NBA Rumors: Celtics confident they can sign Al Horford after meeting
By John Buhler
Free agent power forward/center Al Horford is one of the best big men still on the market and is coming off a great meeting he had with the Boston Celtics.
According to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe, “the [Boston] Celtics met with free agent center Al Horford on Friday night,…the meeting went well, and that the belief is that Boston has a ‘good chance’ of signing the four-time All-Star.”
Horford has spent his entire nine-year NBA career with the Atlanta Hawks, is a top 30 player in the NBA today, and one of the biggest names to hit NBA free agency this summer. It seems that while Horford and Atlanta have wanted to make things work by offering Horford a near-max deal, both parties have had difficulties figuring out the pay structure in that final year of the hypothetical five-year extension.
Boston has been one of the ideal landing spots for Horford in 2016 NBA free agency. He has been a player that Celtics general manager Danny Ainge has had his eyes for a while now and would love to have a front court All-Star to pair with his back court All-Star in point guard Isaiah Thomas.
Horford is expected to make his decision in free agency by the end of the weekend. He has taken meetings with the Celtics, the Houston Rockets, the Washington Wizards, and his long-time team with the Hawks.
Horford could still go back to the Hawks even after Atlanta splurged in free agency to sign Atlanta native center Dwight Howard to a three-year deal and starting wing Kent Bazemore to a four-year deal.
Atlanta may have to end up trading either starting power forward Paul Millsap or backup center Tiago Splitter to have enough cap room. The Hawks still have to address their backup point guard position after the Jeff Teague trade with the Indiana Pacers.
While Horford would probably like to stay in Atlanta, this is a business and he’d be joining a solid organization in the Celtics if he does end up signing a four-year max with Boston by the end of the weekend. If Horford doesn’t re-up with the Hawks, it’s very likely he’ll be wearing Celtic green next winter.
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