The Warriors are considered the heavy favorite to sign veteran big man Al Horford if he doesn’t retire. However, ESPN’s Marc J. Spears reports that a couple of Eastern Conference teams are interested in his services (hat tip to Brian Robb of Masslive.com).
The Bucks and Hawks, along with the Lakers, have looked into signing the Celtics free agent. Atlanta could hold some intrigue for Horford, since he has a home there.
“Golden State obviously expected him to sign last week, he didn’t [sign],” Spears said on ESPN’s NBA Today. “Lakers, Milwaukee, and Atlanta, I believe are also interested in a nearly 40-year-old guy who also has retirement on the table. He’s still considering retiring, he’s not in any hurry. He’s got a sixth kid coming on the way, he lives in Atlanta and Boston in the offseason. I’m hearing that whether it’s Golden State and a lesser extent to the Lakers, being away from the family that far isn’t going to be in that decision.”
Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said earlier this month that it’s “unlikely” Horford returns to Boston, though Stevens did say the team made offers to both him and Luke Kornet (who signed with San Antonio).
Milwaukee’s reported interest is somewhat surprising, considering it has landed Myles Turner in free agency and re-signed big men Bobby Portis and Jericho Sims. Atlanta would make more sense, considering the departure of Clint Capela. The Hawks don’t have a lot of big men options off the bench beyond first-round pick Asa Newell and Mouhamed Gueye.
I understand Holford value if he’s much younger. However, he’s near the end. I guess GS is trying one more chance to win with Steph.
As long as they don’t burn him out, he’ll be great in the fourth quarter of a playoff game. He’ll hit the shot, play great defense, exemplify winning basketball.
What you get during the regular season and how often.., I’m really not sure.
I’m fine with signing older players, as long as there are healthy backups who do a decent job in their absence.
With Looney gone, I believe we’ll need to add yet another C in addition to Horford. Expect Horford to miss 25 games. TJD and Post are still too raw to hold down the position on their own when Horford is out. Richaun Holmes, anyone?
Also a reflection of the current state of the center market. If you miss out on him it’s scraps.
He’s near forty, he can help but a championship out west is way out there. I don’t suspect he’s shooting percentages will be increasing with more court time at this point. Let’s be honest, Kerr will play him to death until he’s a shell of himself if even available come playoffs. Big difference between full and tax payers MLE too. All worth considering. As is location, I mean unless it’s the Warriors or Lakers apparently, lols. Warriors need a higher seed in my opinion. Don’t think Horford at his age does that. The top five or six in the west got better. Quite a bit better. Can the Warriors keep Kuminga and sign Al? Might need those young legs of Kuminga. Seems pretty unlikely cap wise.
Great points as usual Nrg82. I think I’m doing a lot of hoping and wishing.
But who else is out there? Again the Warriors have waited too long to pick up a decent big man unless they have someone up their sleeves as they unload Kuminga?
I don’t even know what they’re doing right now. The roster as it stands today sucks.
Dunleavy better have some kind of a plan. Putting all your eggs in fragile Melton and grandpa Al Horford don’t seem like championship moves.
I’ve been quiet lately on this site because I am seething with all these guys signing elsewhere.
They can always sign and trade Kuminga for Vuc, but they seem to have a crazy value attached to him.
Been saying that two seasons now.
hawks have okonwgu off the bench. is risacher really not gonna start?
okongwu is basically a 6’7″ non-shooting center off the bench… not a lot of depth there for atlanta.
Okongwu starts. We got Porzingis off the bench.
Warr yerz done deal hand shake wink wink.
Return to Atlanta would be nice
Does or will Atlanta have access to the full MLE?
Kuminga is sure ruining the warriors off season. At this point I hoppe he leaves because he will have a bad attitude since he is not getting his big pay day. So his only motivation is money.
He will get paid lol. Only way Warriors get real value for him during season.
arc, you mean disrupting the locker room? I got raked over the coals for suggesting that two weeks ago.
Warriors have known this for over a year now. He’s a RFA and doing what a RFA does.
@arc89 Horford not signing last week had nothing to do with Kuminga or anybody else not signing
Mark Spears reported today that the Warriors had thought they had final terms with Horford, but he didn’t want to sign. In other words, Horford was expected to sign before Kuminga, not after.
Every modern pro sports team is going to have several players unhappy with their contract or role. We learned this week that Kevon Looney had been unhappy for a couple of seasons. Klay and Draymond have been unhappy. As was Moody. Etc, etc. it’s unavoidable.
To be fair to Kuminga, he has not been a disruptive element is a sense that he didn’t try to stink up the dressing room, didn’t have his agent make harmful comments etc.
He said he wants to play more and be a star, which is what all young players say. It would entail getting a star-level salary, ofc.
It was said that Whitmore was stirring it up behind the scenes in Houston, for example.
The day the regular season ended, probably even before that, GS knew that this is how it was going to go.
GS stated that they want a promising young player and a frp in a potential Kuminga trade. On a karmic level, they don’t deserve anything else than a roleplayer, because that’s what they’ve been trying to turn Kuminga into.
That’s a good assessment of the Kuminga situation.
Blame Kuminga as you please for not being a good player, being slow to learn, taking bad shots, etc
But it’s unfair to call him selfish or disruptive. If he believes he can be more than his current coach thinks he can, it’s completely reasonable for him to ask for a trade or become an unrestricted free agent.
Why wouldn’t he be motivated by anything but money and opportunity It’s not the Warriors have done him any favors.
I guess Al deserves the most money he can get. So that midlevel at 5 mill sounds about right. If you look at the teams that want him. I’m surprised Knicks aren’t one of them. Like only FA Knicks aren’t going after. Which is strange. Cause he is actually believable.
I’d say it has to be a contender playoff team. Can offer him that midlevel. Warriors look like the best fit for him. They can give him consistent mins. And he brings a lot of what they need. Especially with Looney gone.
He’s not going to GSW idk why they keep pushing it. Dudes almost 40 and has young kids with another on the way. If he doesn’t retire he’ll be playing for Boston.
It would be homecoming for him to return to Atlanta where his career started
SIX kids???