Al Horford has agreed to a multi-year contract with the Golden State Warriors, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, ensuring that the decorated veteran big man will return to the court for a 19th NBA season.
Terms of the deal were not initially reported. An 18-season NBA veteran, Horford spend the last five seasons with the Boston Celtics and was the starting center during their run to the 2024 NBA Title. He’ll join a Warriors team looking to remain in contention late in Stephen Curry’s career.
Horford’s shooting efficiency dipped last season from what he provided during that title run, but he continued to produce, averaging 9.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.5 combined steals and blocks in 27.7 minutes per game.
Even at 39 years of age, with more than 1,300 NBA games and 42,000 career regular- and postseason minutes under his belt, he remained a key contributor last season for a Celtics team that won 61 games, finished in the top five in the NBA in both offensive and defensive efficiency — and performed better on both ends of the floor with the rock-steady vet on the floor to organize coverages, space the floor, move the ball and generally provide whatever head coach Joe Mazzulla needed on any given possession.
Al Horford is entering his 19th season in the league. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
(Maddie Meyer via Getty Images)
Those contributions extended into the playoffs. With a mysterious viral illness limiting and at times sidelining Kristaps Porziņġis, Horford had to soak up more minutes, responsibility and floor time as the lone big for a Celtics team with its sights set on a championship repeat. He shot 40% from 3-point range, better than any rotation regular save Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard, while also continuing to battle on the boards and protect the rim.
Horford also struggled mightily in the second round against the Knicks, though — both to knock down shots in Games 1 and 2 as New York mounted roaring comebacks, and to contain former Dominican Republic national teammate Karl-Anthony Towns as the Knicks pulled away late in a series marred by the devastating loss of Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum to a ruptured Achilles tendon.
In the aftermath of the shocking combination of Tatum’s injury and the earlier-than-expected exit, Boston’s brass chose to pivot, trading Porziņġis and Jrue Holiday in deals that reportedly saved the franchise nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in total salary and luxury tax spending.
With the Celtics’ odds of continuing to compete for championships suddenly plunging, it seemed at least possible that Horford — a five-time All-Star with two NCAA national championships and an NBA title, and one of just 11 players ever with at least 14,000 points, 8,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists, 1,000 blocks and 800 steals in his career — might consider riding off into the sunset. (For the record: Eight of the other 10 guys on that list are already in the Hall of Fame, and the other two are LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo.)
Evidently, though, the call to continue competing at the highest level was too strong for Horford to stop doing what he’s been doing for the better part of two decades.
“He’s not doing anything to take away from the team ever,” Celtics GM Brad Stevens told Yahoo Sports senior NBA writer Ben Rohrbach earlier this season. “It’s only about what’s best for the team, and it’s been that way since I’ve known him. When Billy Donovan talked about him, he talked about him that way. When his coaches in Atlanta talked about him, they talked about him that way. He’s a winner.”
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