Al Horford’s potential departure from the Boston Celtics dramatically has changed their offseason plans.
As of last week, the big man’s return to Boston seemed all but set in stone. It was reported the 33-year-old could opt out of his contract, but was leaning toward restructuring his deal to return to the Celtics. That changed quickly when it was reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that the two sides no longer were discussing a deal.
Rumors began to swirl that Horford had a four-year deal north of $100 million out on the free agent market, but according to ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan, the C’s made a “healthy” offer themselves.
“In fairness to Al Horford, he’s doing the right thing for himself,” MacMullan said on the latest “Hoop Collective” podcast with Brian Windhorst. “I think the Celtics made him a good offer. I can’t tell you what it was, but I do think that they did make him a four-year offer that was a pretty healthy one.”
MacMullan speculated that Horford potentially walking from Boston’s offer means the robust market for the big man is out there, citing the Dallas Mavericks as a potential landing spot.
“It’s not like (the Celtics) said, ‘oh we’re going to low-ball Al Horford’, but what this tells me … there are teams out there that are very interested in Al Horford, and one of them, I believe, is the Dallas Mavericks.”
Windshorst then chimed in with a value on the deal.
“Four years, $112 million is the number floating around,” he said, adding that the number is a “rumor” and “speculation,” rather than something specifically sourced from someone within the Mavericks organization.
Time will tell where Horford ends up, but it sounds like the Celtics could end up on the losing on of this battle.
