This Narrative After Celtics’ NBA Finals Win Confused Al Horford

A certain piece of information Wyc Grousbeck shared one day after the Celtics won the NBA championship took the basketball world by surprise.

Al Horford, however, wasn’t sure why the team owner’s remarks were perceived as breaking news.

Grousbeck last week Tuesday revealed Horford will be back with Boston for his 18th NBA season. This news was unexpected to a group of fans and media members alike who thought the 38-year-old would ride off into the sunset after winning his first title.

But as Horford explained Sunday at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Boston, retirement was never going to be on the table this summer.

“I don’t know how that all got started to be honest. I mean, I’m coming back,” Horford told reporters, per CelticsBlog’s Noa Dalzell. “That’s the plan and we already kind of talked about our offseason, how it’s going to look. I’m going to take a little time off right now, but I’ll start training in a couple weeks again and kind of get it going, build it back up. I’ll be ready to go.”

Horford’s potential retirement probably shouldn’t have been speculated much in the first place. After all, the veteran forward looked great for the majority of the 2023-24 campaign and the Celtics have a tremendous opportunity to successfully defend their title next season.

The five-time All-Star obviously isn’t far away from the end of his playing career, but he certainly doesn’t have one foot out the door like some thought.