Could the answer to the Boston Celtics’ issues be someone the fanbase thought they had moved on from for good?
Apparently, a Cs veteran who left after the tumultuous 2018-19 season is seen by Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix as a potential band-aid to the problems the 2020-21 iteration of the team is suffering from.
Kyrie Irving isn’t walking through that door, owning championship ambitions with his current team–the Brooklyn Nets–that dominate the sports back pages on a daily basis. Marcus Morris isn’t either, with the eldest Morris twin either serving as the Los Angeles Clippers’ X-Factor or as a trade chip to acquire one. Terry Rozier is playing too well in Charlotte to break up the surging Hornets, who are a game behind the Cs in the standings…and currently sitting in the #8 seed, holding a half-game lead over the Chicago Bulls.
No, Irving, Morris, and Rozier were not the name Mannix mentioned.
Instead, Mannix believes Al Horford could be a game-changing trade target for the Boston Celtics:
"“We know he fits in Brad Stevens’ system, he can play the 5, he can play a little bit of 4, he can shoot the 3 which he’s done a lot better this year than he did in Philadelphia, and let’s not forget the Celtics, they wanted Al Horford to come back. They just didn’t want to pay him four years $100+ million the Sixers were willing to offer. Now he’s got two-and-a-half years left on his contract, around $70ish million total on that deal. I would take him back in a heartbeat."
As Mannix mentions, Horford’s deal was an albatross when he first signed it and he solidified that status when he failed to crack the 12 PPG benchmark last year in Philadelphia. His 3-point shot has gone from league-average (35%) to elite for a big man (39%) and his role on the Thunder is more pronounced as a veteran center than his Philly role was in a poorly constructed lineup alongside Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid.
While there was bad blood after how negotiations went in June 2019, the two sides could be willing to consider it as water under the bridge:
"“I understand there were some raw dealings when Al Horford left. Not just that he left, but that he went to a chief rival in Philadelphia. But if you can let bygones be bygones, I think Al Horford could make a difference on this team.”"
Horford could be absorbed directly into the Boston Celtics’ traded player exception since his salary ($27.5 million) is under what the Cs have to spend for their TPE ($28.5).
It’ll be a very interesting trade deadline, especially if Danny Ainge has a Horford return tabbed for the second half of the 2020-21 season.