Before free agency, Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens said it was a “priority” to retain both Al Horford and Luke Kornet.
“There’s no question our priorities would be to bring Al and Luke back,” he said. “Those guys are huge parts of this organization. They’re going to have, I’m sure, plenty of options all over the place, and that’s well deserved, but I think that would be a priority. At the same time, I don’t want to put pressure on them. It’s their call ultimately, but yeah, we would love to have those guys back.”
On Tuesday, Stevens revealed the Celtics made offers to both players. Kornet signed a four-year, $41 million deal with the San Antonio Spurs on the first day of free agency, ending his run with the Celtics after being acquired via trade in 2021. And with Kornet gone, it doesn’t appear likely that Horford will be returning either.
“I don’t know what I can say about this or not say about it. I mean, we made offers to both Luke and Al. We would’ve loved to have had both of them back. I’d say that’s unlikely,” said Stevens. “The only reason I haven’t talked about Al is because it’s not final. I could probably talk about Al my whole press conference and not say enough. But you know, I don’t want to speak in absolute terms until an ultimate decision is made.”
The 39-year-old is currently an unrestricted free agent, weighing whether — and where — he wants to return for a 19th NBA season, a milestone only 26 players in league history have reached. He’s been linked to the Warriors, Lakers, and Nuggets.
Horford ranks in the top 70 in NBA history in games played (1,138) and sits 11th all-time in postseason appearances. Still, he remains highly effective.
In 60 games last season, he averaged 9.0 points on 42.3% shooting, with 6.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. In his 42 starts, those numbers jumped to 11.5 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.8 blocks in 31.3 minutes per game.
Defensively, while he was hunted at times, he still remained elite. During the regular season, opponents shot just 45.1% against Horford, 3.0% below their expected output. In the playoffs, that number dropped dramatically: opponents shot 65-of-176 (36.9%) when guarded by Horford, a staggering -10.7% below expected.
Horford remains one of the few bigs capable of guarding any position. In the postseason, Horford held guards to 26-of-75 (34.7%) shooting, forwards to 22-of-61 (36.1%), and centers to 17-of-40 (42.5%). He started nine of Boston’s 11 playoff games, registering the third-most minutes behind just Jaylen Brown and Derrick White.
“Another guy that, if he were to go and play somewhere else, was an all-time Celtic. A winner, and did everything he could for this organization,” Stevens added. “Not only from the games but also how he impacted our younger players, who, in a lot of ways, now have to take what they’ve learned from the Jrues and the Als and people like that and apply that from a leadership role.”
Just mentioning Horford’s name brings a smile to his teammates’ faces. “Best teammate” is a common sentiment echoed throughout the locker room when it comes to No. 42.
“You can’t replace Al,” Payton Pritchard said in May. “So I definitely hope we can get that figured out, because just his locker room presence alone is crucial. And then having him on the court, just for all the young guys to see how he goes about his business, how professional he is, he’s just a leader. So, we definitely need him back.”
With Horford likely departing, the Celtics will enter the 2025-26 season with Luka Garza, Neemias Queta, and two-way rookie Amari Williams as their centers. It’s a group short on NBA experience, but are they ready to step up and compete?
“We’re gonna find out, right? I think we had an incredible luxury with Luke and Neemi as our third and fourth centers, because I think they were both much better than that,” said Stevens.
“I think Neemi has a great chance to be impactful here. We’ve always liked Luca Garza from afar, and we think that he has the real physicality that’s necessary on both ends of the floor, especially on the glass, in addition to his ability to score. And then, we got Amari, who’s down there now [at Summer League practice], and we think that he has a high upside. And then you can flex other guys into that center role. Tillman is more of a four, probably, but he can flex into that center role. And so we’ll have to do that by committee. That will not be the group that people will single out, based on paper, on what they’ve done with their careers thus far, as our strongest position, but it’s up to them to prove it otherwise.”
Related
