NBA Free Agency Rumors: Al Horford returning to Atlanta Hawks?
By John Buhler
Al Horford has his free agency search down to three teams, but might re-up with the Hawks instead of going to the Boston Celtics or the Washington Wizards.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical of Yahoo! Sports, the Boston Celtics and the Washington Wizards might be losing their ground to sign free agent center Al Horford, who now might be returning to his long-time team in the Atlanta Hawks.
Sources: Boston, Washington falling back on Al Horford, with Hawks strengthening in belief that a deal can be reached to re-sign him.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 2, 2016
Horford has spent his entire nine-year NBA career with the Hawks since going No. 3 overall to Atlanta in the 2007 NBA Draft out of Florida. A four-time NBA All-Star with Atlanta, Horford was one of the five biggest names to hit 2016 NBA free agency.
As of Friday, Horford has narrowed down his list of potential teams for 2016-17 to the Hawks, Celtics, and Wizards. He reportedly wasn’t keen on the Hawks’ decision to sign Dwight Howard to a three-year deal on Friday.
However, it seems that teammate Kent Bazemore, coming off a big deal of his own with the Hawks on Friday, has been the biggest person behind getting Horford to stay despite the Howard signing, as reported by the Associated Press’ Michael Scotto.
Sources: Hawks preparing a full max offer to keep Al Horford. Kent Bazemore among those strongly recruiting Al Horford to stay in Atlanta.
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) July 2, 2016
For Atlanta to offer Horford the max, the Hawks might have to part ways with three-time All-Star Paul Millsap via trade or cut a player like Tiago Splitter or Mike Scott if the Hawks want a stellar front court of Horford, Howard, and Millsap. Did Horford just use Boston and Washington as leverage to get the max from the Hawks? We’ll see.
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