NBA Rumors: Celtics, Wizards frontrunners to sign Al Horford
By Josh Hill
The Celtics and Wizards appear to be in a dead heat to sign Al Horford this week.
With NBA Free Agency already in full swing — at least, the moratorium stretch — teams are starting to hammer out deals with players they hope won’t go full DeAndre Jordan with them before ink can be put to paper.
Oe of the biggest free agent names still out there is Al Horford, but it looks like he might soon have a new home.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski from The Vertical, the two teams in the lead to sign Horford are the Celtics and Wizards.
"The Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards have emerged as the frontrunners to sign free-agent big man Al Horford, and a final decision is expected Saturday night, league sources told The Vertical."
This comes on the heels of Boston brass meeting with Horford and coming away with a strong sense that they can sign the big man. Washington has been in the background of talks but it now appears they’ve just been playing it cool.
The real thing to take away from this is that Horford appears to be done in Atlanta. There was hope that maybe a deal could get worked out that would return the life-long Hawks big man to the team but that appears to be a lost cause.
Dwight Howard agreeing to sign in Atlanta was a fatal blow to a plan that was already battered by the trading of Jeff Teague in an effort to get younger. Horford has voiced displeasure with the Howard deal, and word of heavy interest from the Celtics and Wizards all but ends any hope that Hawks fans might have had for Horford returning to Atlanta.
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