With the NBA Finals officially wrapped up, the offseason is finally upon us. Monday marks the first day that teams are allowed to negotiate with their own free agents and other extension-eligible players.
For the Boston Celtics, this means that they’re now able to discuss new deals with Al Horford, Luke Kornet, and Torrey Craig, who will all become unrestricted free agents on July 1. Horford and Kornet, in particular, are interesting players to watch during this pre-free-agency period.
The pair has been integral to the Celtics' success over the past two seasons. Horford has continued to be a capable floor-spacer and versatile defender since rejoining the Cs in the summer of 2021, while Kornet has blossomed into a reliable rim protector and low-usage finisher off the bench.
Al Horford and Luke Kornet's futures with the Celtics feel like a coin flip
While the feeling is that both players enjoy being in Boston, there’s still plenty of uncertainty in regards to their respective futures with the team. Both were noncommittal during their exit availabilities last month.
“I’m going to take some time here with my wife and my kids and just that,” Horford told reporters last month following Boston’s playoff elimination. “But it’s not even been a day, so there’s still a lot for me to process and just feeling everything out from last night, that was difficult.”
“Regarding going forward, it’s like, I’ll figure out stuff when it kind of comes to it,” Kornet explained. “At this point, you’re just kind of trying to unwind and spend some time with family, and you don’t even know what everything is gonna look like because you just got done playing. That’s kind of what it is for now.”
According to a report from HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto last week, Horford doesn’t seem quite ready to retire. Meanwhile, Kornet played well enough this season to generate a fair amount of interest from competing teams around the association. Scotto hinted that teams may offer him as much as the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which will be valued at $14.1 million next season.
Considering that the Celtics are already in a financial bind and will need to do some salary gymnastics to avoid the league’s second-apron line this summer, it’s hard to see them shelling out that sort of cash for Kornet. They are technically allowed to further inflate their spending to re-sign the big man because they control his Bird rights, but again, it doesn’t align with the overall goal of the offseason.
As for Horford, it’s not unfathomable that he’d be willing to stick around on a team-friendly contract. The real question with him is whether or not he wants to spend one of his final NBA seasons on an in-between Celtics team, while Jayson Tatum rehabs a ruptured Achilles tendon. Scotto indicated that there are contending teams who are monitoring Horford’s free agency with hopes of adding him to their respective squads.
There’s a strong possibility that Boston will trade away Kristaps Porzingis in a salary-shedding move this summer, too. So, losing both big men in addition to that would hurt, for sure.