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Getty Al Horford von den Boston Celtics.
Last season, the Boston Celtics were two wins away from taking home their 18th NBA championship. And so far this summer, they’ve been anything but complacent. They have added other important additions to their roster in hopes of returning it next season.
Aside from a blockbuster trade that could be a possibility, it looks like they’ll be playing in the same core again next season. Boston’s current core is so young that they have plenty of time to develop and keep making titles.
At least mostly.
The only clear outlier on Boston’s roster is big man Al Horford, who turned 36 during the team’s playoff run last season. In Steve Bulpett’s first NBA mailbag for Heavy.com, the longtime NBA insider was asked whether or not Al Horford would remain a Celtic for the rest of his career. Bulpett kept his first reply short and sweet.
Bulpett said there are “a couple of answers:
He should. It really comes down to health and how long Al wants to play.”
Horford has just wrapped up one of the most impressive seasons of his career, especially considering his age. And as Bulpet found, he never really wanted to leave Boston.
Bulpett: “Horford really didn’t want to leave Boston”
When Horford left Boston in 2019, the Celtics were in a state of disarray. Kyrie Irving went to the Brooklyn Nets, Terry Rozier to the Charlotte Hornets, and there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding the team. Bulpett revealed Horford never wanted to leave and told him so in an interview.
“Horford really didn’t want to leave Boston the first time, but Kyrie Irving was about to leave (in an interview before the start of the 2019/20 season, Al told me he would have seen things differently if he’d known that Kemba Walker would come) and there was uncertainty at the Celtics.
It was widely expected that Horford would end his contract last year and sign with Boston for a longer period. But when Philadelphia came in with big money, a chance to play alongside Joel Embiid and what seemed like a great opportunity to fight for a title, he moved on. Horford didn’t like being beaten up inside and the idea of Embiid pulling the bigger opponents was appealing,” Bulpett wrote in his column.
After his failed experiment in Philadelphia, he switched to the Oklahoma City Thunder, which gave him the opportunity to return to Boston a year later.
Bulpett: “The Celtics would love to have him”
When Horford was traded to the Thunder, their roster didn’t really fit his career, so the big man left the team and prepared for the next year. That worked out beautifully for the Celtics, and now Horford could be primed to spend the rest of his career in Boston.
“It obviously didn’t work out there, and after a sabbatical in Oklahoma City, Horford returned to Boston and was a crucial part of the Celts’ run to the Finals.
At 36, long-term career predictions are foolish. But as he enters the final year of his current contract, you have to believe the Celtics would like him as long as the salary expectations are reasonable,” explained Bulpett.
Potential contract issues aside, it seems like Horford and the Celtics should be able to ride into the sunset together for the remainder of the big man’s career.
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