Centre Al Horford will not be riding off into the sunset this summer. Celtics governor Wyc Grousbeck confirmed to The Greg Hill Show on Tuesday, June 18, that Horford will return to Boston this fall for his 18th season.
“Al is coming back for next year,” Grousbeck remarked. “That is what I have been told. Ironically, in 2008, we defeated Al’s team. The [Atlanta] Hawks took us to seven in the first round. So we were a part of his drought, and now he’s come home. He loves it here, and so does his family. He couldn’t be happier, and we’re glad to have him.
Horford, a five-time All-Star who was last selected during his debut season with the Celtics in 2017-18, has one year left on his two-year, $19.5 million contract.
Al Horford helped the Celtics win the NBA title despite Kristaps Porzingis’ injuries.
Horford was a vital element of Boston’s playoff rotation, especially after Kristaps Porzingis’ injury kept the team’s starting centre out from the middle of the first round until Game 1 of the Finals.
Horford averaged 9.2 points, 7 rebounds, and 2.1 assists over 19 postseason games, according to StatMuse. He also made over 37% of his 3-point tries, giving the Celtics the necessary floor spacing to capitalize on mismatches in their five-out approach.
Defences do not need to respect Horford in the same manner that they do Porzingis as an explosive offensive threat. In his absence, Horford performed admirably.
Horford, who is already 38 years old, cannot provide the Celtics with the same kind of rim protection as Porzingis. However, he is still versatile enough on defence to rotate frequently and keep strong offensive players in front of him, as he did well against the Dallas Mavericks in the Finals.
Throughout the postseason, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps has noted that Horford is far more impactful when he plays 25-30 minutes. However, even when he had to play into the mid-30s or up to 40 minutes (as he did twice during the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers), Horford shown that he had enough in the tank to handle the load from the centre position.
Jayson Tatum on the verge of signing the richest contract in NBA history with the Celtics
With Grousbeck’s confirmation of Horford’s return, the Celtics appear to be on track to re-sign their top six players.
Jaylen Brown, the Finals MVP, has signed a contract that will keep him with the franchise through 2028. Jrue Holiday has also signed an extension till 2027. Jayson Tatum and Porzingis are both under contract until 2025.
Furthermore, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN said on Monday night’s NBA Countdown that Boston will shortly offer Tatum the richest contract in league history, keeping him in a Celtics uniform until the end of the decade.
“Once these NBA Finals are over, the teams are now allowed to start negotiating contract extensions and negotiating with their own free agents, which means that the Celtics will soon present Jayson Tatum with the largest contract extension in NBA history — a five-year, $315 million extension,” Wojnarowski reported.
That leaves just Derrick White to consider, albeit he is under contract through next season on a four-year deal worth $70 million that pays him more than $20 million for the 2024-25 season. Talks about an extension between White and Boston may start as early as this summer.
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