Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix created quite a stir when he appeared on NBC Sports Boston’s Early Edition. On the show, he offered the possibility of a reunion between the Boston Celtics and Al Horford.
Horford signed a four-year max deal in the summer of 2016. As a draw at the time to try and woo Kevin Durant to Boston–in a recruitment effort that also included Isaiah Thomas and Tom Brady–Horford brought with him a history of success leading the Atlanta Hawks to regular-season success.
He never could get past LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers, though, losing two years in a row before losing to Giannis Antetokounmpo in his final season with the Cs before bolting for the City of Brotherly Love.
That Philly stint didn’t work out, but as Mannix points out, his value has been rehabilitated in Oklahoma City:
"“It’s no surprise to me that Al Horford goes to Oklahoma City, which has a history of putting players like Horford in good positions, and he has turned into something more resembling the Al Horford we saw for many years in Boston…”"
Now, negotiations did break down with the Boston Celtics before he turned around and agreed to a deal with a division rival. Granted, the Cs didn’t want Horford at such a gaudy number (four years, $109 million) after signing him to an identical deal when he was three years younger…and he arguably didn’t live up to the contract value the first time.
But, Mannix sees the two sides being able to coexist again:
"“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.”"
With that said, is it wise to trade for Horford at this point?
Let’s look into the pros and cons…
Pros to an Al Horford-Boston Celtics reunion
An obvious pro about Al Horford making his way back north to Beantown would be the fit that we already know exists between him and the Boston Celtics. Horford’s Cs always had homecourt advantage in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs and twice held the #1 seed overall.
In fact, it was in his very first season that Boston vaulted up the standings from one of four 48-win teams in the middle of the Eastern Conference pack in 2015-16 to the undisputed #1 seed in the east in 2016-17.
Horford was no longer the offensive weapon that he was in Atlanta during his time with the Celtics, but his game was never predicated on single-handedly dominating through his scoring and playmaking.
Instead, he became a perfectly functional member of the starting lineup, peaking in 2017-18 when he upped his 3-point shooting percentage to a staggering 43% in over three attempts per game from beyond the arc.
Horford is once again thriving on a team built on youth; the current-day Thunder are not too dissimilar from the 2017-18 Celtics after Kyrie Irving got injured. With proven success alongside Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, perhaps it’s time Horford returns to the team he saw the most postseason success with.
Cons to an Al Horford-Boston Celtics reunion
On the flip side, perhaps it’s not.
The main reason why Horford was not brought back to the Boston Celtics was money. Apparently, the two sides were far apart on negotiations.
The exact number of how far apart seemed to be $12 million:
"Woj also reported, citing league sources, that Boston’s “final offer did cover four years but was less in guaranteed money.” He detailed the 76ers’ offer to Horford includes “$97 million in guaranteed money, and $12 million in bonuses tied to championships.”"
Philadelphia’s offer ended up being $109 million, which was the amount he could have gotten from the Cs if he hit the bonuses “tied to championships”.
Reading between the lines, it is clear that Danny Ainge didn’t feel Horford was worth his market value, because if he did, he wouldn’t have hedged by making $12 million of his offer dependent on Boston winning a championship.
It sounds like Ainge wasn’t all that confident re-signing Horford would have resulted in banner #18, otherwise, he would not have played hard-ball with such an offer.
While Horford can let bygones be bygones and once again suit up for a team cutting his $27.5 million-per-year checks, Ainge may not want to accept defeat by absorbing the contract he once deemed to expensive in a panic trade.