3:00pm: Horford’s two-year extension is now official, the Celtics announced in a press release.
“Al is such an important part of our team,” president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said in a statement. “He’s a high-level player who enhances everyone around him on both ends of the court. His work ethic, commitment to his body and craft, and his unselfishness set a daily example on how to win big in the NBA. His leadership has had a big impact on the coaches and players he’s competed alongside here in Boston, and we’re excited that he and his family are choosing to remain Celtics for years to come.”
8:31am: Horford’s two-year, $20MM extension will be fully guaranteed and will include a trade kicker, a source tells Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link).
8:02am: The Celtics and center Al Horford have agreed to a two-year contract extension worth $20MM, agent Jason Glushon tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The new deal will begin in 2023/24 and will keep Horford under team control until 2025.
Horford is currently earning $26.5MM in the final season season of the four-year, $109MM contract he signed with the Sixers in 2019, the last time he reached free agency. The veteran big man left Boston for Philadelphia that offseason despite a widespread expectation that he and the Celtics would work out a new deal.
This time around, he and the C’s have finalized an agreement well ahead of his free agency to avoid a repeat of that situation. Horford had stated last month that he wanted to play for two or three more seasons and finish his career in Boston.
Horford is 36 years old and his new contract will expire when he’s 39. However, he has remained extremely effective into his mid-30s and the Celtics’ commitment to him reflects a confidence that his solid play will continue for at least a couple more years.
In 18 games (all starts) this season, Horford has averaged 10.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 31.3 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .555/.488/.625. As Wojnarowski observes within his report, the five-time All-Star is also highly respected within the locker room and in the wider Boston community.
Prior to this agreement, only $19.5MM of Horford’s $26.5MM salary for 2022/23 was guaranteed, but it was always a safe bet that he’d earn that full amount — this deal will formalize that, as Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets.
The extension signals that Boston is comfortable remaining a taxpayer beyond this season. Prior to signing Horford, the club had already committed $145MM+ in guaranteed money to eight players for 2023/24 (including Danilo Gallinari‘s player option). Barring cost-cutting moves, the Celtics’ team salary is now on track to comfortably surpass the projected $162MM luxury tax line for next season, especially if they re-sign Grant Williams.
As our tracker shows, Horford will become the 17th player to sign a veteran extension during the 2022/23 league year.
Never should have left the org for sixers, the. They would have avoided the Walker mess too.
Sixers would have ended up w Walker I think. Or the Lakers somehow via trade.
Good deal for BOS in 23-24. Good deal for Horford in 24-25.
10M isn’t gonna be a whole lot in 24-25.
I wholeheartedly agree. After the Sixers mess. It’s fitting. He wants to retire a Celtic and the Cs aren’t messing around giving that man his due
If this guy helps Boston get a title he should be a HOFer. Couple of titles at UF, couple of All-Star campaigns in Atl, never missed playoffs as far as I know, extremely versatile big for near 20yrs
Yeah he may very well end up making it but he’ll be on the ballot as long as Chris Webber was left off and Horford has had the better career.
Well deserved. Key player for the Celtics.
I’m not a fan of over-paying players in the twilight of their careers. Many names come to mind where that didn’t work as planned. 10 million at 39 isn’t a massive overpay, but currently it’s about 4 times the Vet minimum, and I doubt Horford is contributing more than a vet minimum’s worth of play at 39. If inflation is the reason given for this being a good deal for the celtics, then you need to study what happens to nations that take on inflation like America has the last 3 years. There will be no NBA in 2025 if inflation quadruples from 2.6 million in 20022 to 10 million in 2025. Which is exactly what happens unless the leaders step-in and actually do their jobs. I’m not holding my breath
Some bigs making around 10M right now include Nerlens Noel, Deandre Jordan, PJ Tucker, Mo Bamba, and Derick Favors.
I don’t think the Celtics are sweating dropping 10M per year on Horford.
Terrible move. He won’t last the rest of this season. They should have went year by year, because he ain’t going anywhere else. He tried that and it failed. They could have gave him minimum. Stevens is a joke.
You’re all worked up.
Garbage take dude. Try harder.
This is the worst take on this site in some time…
Al should have always been a Celtic. Good for him.
Does this mean that Grant Will is likely gone???
Apparently the Cs offered him 12/13 and he wanted more like 18. They have Rob Will locked in as the 5 and now resigned Horford who will likely play the 4. It’ll mean less minutes less opportunity ahead and less likely he gets the money he wants.
Whoever gets Grant be in by trade or in FA has got a real one that’s for sure
You think Horford signing for 10M a year means Grant Wlliams is gone?
What?
I mean they couldn’t agree in previous extension talks now it’ll have to wait till FA. Meanwhile Grant will be thinking he has to continue to share the PF spot for the next few years if he stays. I think Horford signing was Boston’s fall back option having missed making an extension with Grant.
Horford is a depth move going forward. Grant is a key piece for the next 5-7 years.
RoWilliams,Horford & Kornet are locked up for 23-24 at roughly 24m total and with Horford taking roughly a 17M paycut Boston should have plenty of incentive to re-sign Grant Williams. Between the 4+M he’s making now and that 17M not going to Horford should be more than enough to keep GrWilliams. He might get some RFA offers but I doubt there’ll be many teams that go higher than that 20-21M that Boston has to work with .
Yeah but Boston we’re cheap and only offered him a round 12/13 and he wanted more. I wouldn’t be surprised to see other teams offer in and around that 17-25 range
I wouldn’t say that they were cheap when they were offering 12-13M and his agent was asking for 14-15M. Either way Brad Stevens just freed up enough cap space to cover his next salary. He’s still a restricted free agent so I doubt that he’ll have many teams make offers knowing Boston will likely match it. He’s a great 3&D player but his game won’t warrant a max type contract.
Between the team freeing up more than enough cap space to be able to match almost any offer he gets, having their top 11 players signed for 2023-24 and with how close he is with Boston’s young core of players,especially Tatum, I don’t see re-signing him as an issue at all.
Keldon Johnson,from the same draft class as Williams, signed a 4yr/80M extension and he’s a much more complete player than Grant Williams.
I’d say its a safe bet that he ends up signing for more than Boston’s last offer but I doubt his deal tops Johnson’s.
Good signing for BOS. I’m sure he’s fading with age or will soon (and he does miss time), but 2 position, 2 way, bigs are hard to find at any price. For BOS, which won’t see cap space again in the Tatum-Brown era, closer to impossible.
Plus he’s popular with teammates. Impossible to see this as anything other than a huge win for everyone.