Al Horford agrees to 2-year, $20M extension with Celtics

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35155306/al-horford-agrees-2-year-20-million-extension-celtics

No wonder Al was playing with a smile on his face for the last two games. He will retired a Celtic no doubt

RosalieTCeltics wrote:No wonder Al was playing with a smile on his face for the last two games. He will retired a Celtic no doubt

Rosalie

My thoughts as well. This team has something very special going on and with Al buying in for 2 additional years it provides stability to the team as they are very likely to stay in contention. This roster is stocked with players that fit into a timeline.

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2022/12/how-al-horford-extension-enhances-celtics-trade-free-agency-options-for-title-push-brian-robb.html


How Al Horford extension enhances Celtics trade, free agency options for title push


Updated: Dec. 01, 2022, 10:56 a.m.|Published: Dec. 01, 2022, 10:48 a.m.


By Brian Robb | brobb@masslive.com


Al Horford is playing some of the best basketball of his career for the Celtics at age 36 and is one of the most valuable players on the team’s roster. With the team poised to be a championship contender for the foreseeable future, it comes as no surprise that the big man wants to likely finish out his career in Boston. The Celtics and Horford came to terms on Thursday per league sources on a two-year $20 million extension that locks up the center through the 2024-25 season as ESPN first reported.


The deal is fully guaranteed and contains no options and a trade kicker, helping to ensure Horford stays contending with Boston for however long he decides to keep playing.

The Celtics are clearly poised to keep themselves in the contender mix for the foreseeable future as they build around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown but Horford’s extension does simplify several possibilities for Boston on the trade and free agency front for this year and beyond following the extension. Let’s take a closer look at those ramifications.


Keeping Horford at a discount:

The non-taxpayer mid-level exception is poised to jump up to $11.3 million next summer, which is probably the minimum that Horford would have commanded if he hit the open market in free agency next summer given how well he’s playing this year. However, the Celtics and the veteran opted for some welcome security on both sides instead rather than Horford chasing one last big-money contract. The Celtics had no clear path to replacing Horford if he walked in free agency (only having the non-taxpayer MLE ($7 million)) to replace his production so they lock him in at a good price. Meanwhile, Horford gets one last solid payday along with some financial security against an injury or a trade (with his trade kicker) to keep both sides happy. When everyone is happy and a team is winning, deals like this become much easier and Brad Stevens has been aggressive about getting his core players under long-term pacts since taking over for Danny Ainge in 2021. He strikes again here.


Some negotiating leverage for Celtics against Grant Williams in summer


The two sides did not agree to an extension in October as Grant Williams held out for a contract that was worth closer to $15 million annually per multiple sources. Williams is still a vital part of the Celtics rotation but the team will likely feel less of an urgency to overpay for him in his next deal after getting Horford under contract for the next two seasons even after Williams’ strong start to this year. The truth for Williams is that the restricted free agent market is generally a tough spot for a role player like him given the limited cap room available for other teams to spend and an unwillingness for teams to put out offer sheets that could tie up their flexibility. The Celtics already knew this leading to their stance in negotiations but they now protect themselves further by having their top two bigs in Horford and Rob Williams locked up. Boston will want to keep Williams but they can feel better about doing so on their terms.


Maximum trade and free agency flexibility

The Celtics now have 11 players on this team’s roster under contracts for the 2023-24 season now after Horford’s extension, including all key members of the rotation besides Grant Williams.


2023-24 Celtics under contract

Jayson Tatum: $32.6 million

Jaylen Brown: $30.7 million

Malcolm Brogdon: $22.5 million

Marcus Smart: $18.5 million


Derrick White: $18.1 million

Robert Williams: $11.8 million

Al Horford: $10 million

Danilo Gallinari: $6.8 million (player option)

Payton Pritchard: $4 million

Luke Kornet: $2.4 million (non-guaranteed)

Sam Hauser: $1.9 million (non-guaranteed)


Free agents

Grant Williams (restricted)

Justin Jackson

Blake Griffin

Noah Vonleh


That type of security that Boston has with its core players will create an ideal situation for the team’s front office to add to the areas they need during trade season and free agency next summer. Bringing back Danilo Gallinari for next year or using his salary as a trade chip to upgrade another area of the roster given Sam Hauser’s rise remains in play. The Celtics will also still maintain their taxpayer mid-level exception next year ($7 million) that they can willingly use on player(s) in the open market for wherever they see fit knowing they don’t need to save any to replace Horford’s production if he went elsewhere. For a team that is set on contending for the rest of the decade, Boston has no clear weaknesses or bad contracts within their depth chart for at least the next two years. They will be building from a position of strength going forward and Horford’s extension only adds to that front.


Bob


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MY NOTE:  Celtic-for-Life Al Horford.  It has a nice ring to it.  He wanted back, he got his wish and now he's here for the duration.  The key is "how much will he have left 1 1/2 years from now?".  If he just becomes another Blake Griffin or Udonis Haslem, a veteran leader in the locker room who knows how to stay ready for when the fire alarm goes off, that's value.

So much for clearing all that cap space next year.  $19M will be gone, and you can get a pretty good player for that, but not all of it.  That's the bad news.  The good news is that our core is locked up long-term except for Jaylen.

Jaylen is in the final year of his contract next year.  That $19M will help to give him a raise (although $28.5M is nothing to sneeze at).

Brad had an unhappy locker room when Diarrhea Breath was here.  He's seeing the benefits of a happy locker room now.  Brad's a lifetime learner.
 

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Chris Forsberg @ChrisForsberg_
about 2 hours ago
Early extensions since Brad Stevens took over in June 2021: Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, Josh Richardson (then flipped as part of Derrick White deal), Al Horford.


Bob
MY NOTE:  The "Anti-Danny"



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Bobby Manning @RealBobManning
about 10 minutes ago
Al Horford signed an extension with the #Celtics through 2025, keeping a player they'll continue to rely on and subtracting $16.9M from their books (~$9.6M in '24). That could coincidentally be the number Grant Williams ends up earning in free agency


Bob


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Al is the type of quality individual that you want on your team.

My only question with his extension would be this; is it legal to use a walker while on the court?

Come on now, he is a contributor right now and, with load management, he will be a contributor for a while to come. He can shoot from the bench if need be..I love this move, it shows that Brad never really wanted to lose him to start off with. He is a true Celtic too, the guys love him. So, in my opinion, management made a good move for the next couple of years. Then he can ride off into the sunset. I watched a clip of Havlicek’s announcement that he was retiring. It sounds like something Al would say. Better to leave too soon than too late. Let’s see in the future if I am wrong

It’s amazing how much more Al has left than say Blake Griffin, who is 3 years younger and Dwight Howard who is the same age and out of the league.

Al Horford has morphed into a reliable shooter.  His age not withstanding should not adversely impacted him because he is not playing in the post area on offense that much.  That means less wear and tear on his body.

Also, not too concerned about his legs going because he is not a jump shooter.  He shoots a set shot from deep.

He is logging around 31 MPG.  That is too many minutes.  Once R Williams returns we should see those minutes go down.

If the Celtics are concerned about preserving Al's capacity they could also return to the 2 big lineup.  

It looks like Kornet can give us some productive minutes as a 3rd center and with a healthy Rob the team should be in good shape.

#42 is headed for the rafters and deservedly so. Love this move. You go Brad!!

Ktron wrote:#42 is headed for the rafters and deservedly so. Love this move. You go Brad!!

ktron

I think he will need to get a ring to get his number retired. Ed MaCauley (22) and Reggie Lewis (35) are the only Celtics that have retired numbers that did not win a title with the Celtics.

dboss wrote:

Ktron wrote:#42 is headed for the rafters and deservedly so. Love this move. You go Brad!!

ktron

I think he will need to get a ring to get his number retired.  Ed MaCauley (22) and Reggie Lewis (35) are the only Celtics that have retired numbers that did not win a title with the Celtics.  

It’ll be this year! ( I promise) :-)

Ktron wrote:

dboss wrote:

Ktron wrote:#42 is headed for the rafters and deservedly so. Love this move. You go Brad!!

ktron

I think he will need to get a ring to get his number retired.  Ed MaCauley (22) and Reggie Lewis (35) are the only Celtics that have retired numbers that did not win a title with the Celtics.  

It’ll be this year! ( I promise) :-)

I have that feeling too!