Teams around the NBA widely believe that free agent big man Al Horford will end up on the Warriors, Jake Fischer said during on a Bleacher Report stream on Thursday (YouTube link).
Appearing on SportsCenter, ESPN’s Shams Charania confirmed that the Warriors are “hopeful” about where they stand in the Horford sweepstakes, but cautioned that a decision may not be imminent and that there’s no guarantee the 39-year-old will continue his playing career.
“I’m told he is reviewing multiple options, including the Warriors, the Lakers, but also retirement,” Charania said, per RealGM. “He is 39 years old. He just finished season 18. I’m told it would be a surprise if he makes a final decision by this weekend. He certainly has earned the right to make a decision at his own time.”
Charania made his comments before the Lakers agreed to bring back free agent center Jaxson Hayes, so it’s unclear whether or not they’re still in play for Horford.
If they do want to add more frontcourt depth, the Lakers could open up a 15-man roster spot by moving off Shake Milton‘s non-guaranteed contract and would have $5.1MM in bi-annual exception money to offer Horford, though there has been chatter linking De’Anthony Melton to that roster spot, as Dan Woike of The Athletic tweets.
Here’s more from around the Pacific Division:
- The Warriors are in the market for a veteran big man in large part because long-tenured center Kevon Looney is headed to New Orleans. Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic takes a look back at what Looney meant to Golden State, referring to him as the team’s “backbone.”
- Austin Reaves‘ agent, Aaron Reilly, denied a report from John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter video link), who claimed that Reaves and LeBron James don’t like playing with newest Lakers star Luka Doncic. “Austin has nothing but the utmost respect for Luka and truly enjoys playing alongside him,” Reilly said, per Trevor Lane of Lakers Nation (Twitter link). “Any suggestion to the contrary is completely false. He’s excited to be on the court with Luka—both now and in the future.
- While Deandre Ayton is getting a second-year player option on his new deal with the Lakers, neither side wants him to exercise it, according to Dan Woike of The Athletic, who explains that both Ayton and the Lakers are hoping he far outperforms that the value of that option (in the $8.4MM range) and can command a significant raise in free agency next summer. Team sources are confident the Lakers have the right coaching staff to make it happen, Woike writes, noting that JJ Redick has a reputation for relating to players and assistant Scott Brooks previously worked with Ayton in Portland.
- The Suns‘ two-way contract with undrafted rookie forward CJ Huntley will cover two seasons, Hoops Rumors has learned.
Lakers hahahahaha, stop it. Is Al going to ruin his Boston Legacy? Lakers are zero chance of winning. Actually we do have that mid season thing, lols. Nobody wants to play with that leBron clown, everybody else is the scapegoat. Steph, Dray and Jimmy much better than that narcissist clown. Spurs would be an awesome fit but Al doesn’t have time. Go to the Warriors Mr Horford. Thank you and good luck. Lakers got Hayes, deal with it.
Get some sleep
It’s 2.30 in the afternoon. I won’t stop debunking Bron or the ĺakers. This is what happens when the media lies and tries pushing false narratives down your throat for decades.
Yeah nobody wants to play with LBJ EXCEPT the guys that won chips with him. Ask Shump, JR, Jefferson, Love, Kyrie, Frye, AR, AD and a few of his Hest teammates sky how they feel about playing with him.
Those are all prime LeBron. This version is overpaid old Lebron. Combine a problem like Ayton, low defensive effort Luka and crybaby Reeves, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Of course Al isn’t going there.
In what way was Looney “the backbone” when the team simply could never win without Steph Curry?
Jeez…Once again, Davey J is here making shallow ignorant comments about the Warriors. Read the article about Looney. Sports is more than just filling up stat sheets. He embodys “strength in numbers”. Maybe you’ll learn something…I doubt it.
Looney filled an important role for GSW that may be difficult to replace. I agree with you. The article in no way implies that Looney was the best player. Weird take by the usual suspect.
Just mute him. I did that a while ago, and now my page isn’t full with (as much) nonsense.
“Backbone” not the right word…Kerr once called Looney the team’s “moral compass”, which sounds right.
Moses MaLoon. Wilt ChamberLoon.
In all seriousness they never win the 22 chip for sure without him, and they may not have gotten past the Rockets in 18 either.
Chap, that’s the best post of the week if you love Looney (like me).
Loon is going to be one of the greatest head coaches in NBA history after he retires. Callin it now.
Horford makes too much sense.
Agreed and if he retires instead of playing for Kerr than GSW gotta fire Kerr now.
@aristotle well yeah, now GSW has officially switched from “tWo TiMeLiNeS” to “NBA senior citizen fest” because Kerr refuses to do his job, MDJ has no other option aside from firing Kerr.
@DaveyJ We’re all in on “the last gasp”.
If 4 guys over 35 years old can contend for a Chip, nobody will be happier than this die-hard Dubs fan. But there’s a reason no team has ever tried this before.
I’m seeing huge denial from Dubs fans & media about the probability that injury & unavailability kill this season. If it goes badly, MJD/Lakob aren’t running it back, and the rebuild starts in 2026-27.
More so now then ever before in the NBA way more of the top 15 players are over 30 than any other time in league history. Like Steph is pretty much the same player as when he was 28. I dont even know if he is that much more injury prone since Steph has always gotten injured a bit. Bron is still a top 10 player at 40 the only other guy to even maybe do that was Kareem, and I think he was slipping a little more.
> More so now then ever before in the NBA way more of the top
> 15 players are over 30 than any other time in league history
Statistically, the exact opposite is true. (See the link, below: I prepared a study for you that links to all the research.) The league was oldest it’s been in 1970’s, and is youngest today. Veteran players/stars are fewer in number than ever. And,they contribute less — by counting stats, games played and minutes played. The reason: the game is faster.
In each era, there are outliers, just as we have Steph and LeBron now: Karl Malone and Jordan, Kareem, etc. But there is a statistical cliff at around 35 years old.
link to claude.ai
I think in general thats true, but the super star top 10 types have been Steph/Bron/KD and mostly other guys at least around 30 for a long while now. There are some ascendent players, but other than Joker 4 of the top 5 have been the same since Giannis broke out till about now.
I think not everybody wants or has the ability to keep going. But with modern sports science the truly great ones that are dedicated to body maintenance are able to prolong their primes a lot later.
> with modern sports science the truly great ones
> that are dedicated to body maintenance are able to
> prolong their primes a lot later.
100% false, which you’ll see if you read any of the referenced articles. (Again, the 2-3 outliers in each generation do not change the overwhelming statistical evidence.)
The primes of star NBA players are absolutely NOT being extended. The opposite is true: older players are playing fewer minutes at an earlier stage. Sports science has extended careers for some players by 2-3 years longer, but they continue to decline at the same rate.
It’s never been a worse time to be an old player, nor a worse strategy for a team to retain old players.
Chapman, here’s the text to go with the link to the stats.
link to claude.ai
@DaveyJ I’m guessing that Horford and Kerr will be compatible, and that Horford believes he fits well.
The fact that KD should have been a Warrior again is water under the bridge :–(
Which is possibly why it won’t happen.
Horford wants to take on a project like Baby Draymond and make him a man.