By joining Warriors, Horford can cling to a possibility for another NBA title

The presence of Al Horford will miss Boston.

He will make himself heard in Golden State, where Horford intends to sign a multi -year contract with the Warriors, leaving the Celtics for the second time in his historic career, according to Shams Charania of Espn.

Announcement

Jayson Tatum nicknamed Horford “one of the best teammates I have ever had at any level” and Jaylen Brown called him “a legend and hero of real life”. You will not find anyone in the Celtics organization that disagrees.

“If I had asked everyone,” he told Yahoo Sports, president of Celtics’s basketball operations, in Yahoo Sports last January, “If you take all the joy that each of us experienced by winning [the championship] Last year, I think that we would all say a piece of that joy – if not a great part in my eyes – was for al. “

This was months ago, when Horford and everyone around him felt as if he had finished his career in Boston, since the Celtics championship window was wide open. At 39, Horford wanted to start every season he had left in him with the possibility of winning a title and the Celtics charging champion – with Tatum and Brown exactly in their prime numbers – they were positioned to see Horford through the end of his career.

Announcement

“I just want to be here,” Horford said to Yahoo Sports, so of his desire to retire to Boston.

In the same way, “Until Horford wants to play,” Stevens said at that moment, “We would like it here”.

And the Celtics wanted it to remain. It is a calming presence in the changing rooms, and still a player devil. He marked on average 9 points (42/36/90 shot of shooting), 6.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.5 combined blocks and steals in 27.7 minutes per game last season, his 18th in the NBA. But his impact has never concerned statistics. He is a winner that “he is not doing anything to ever remove from the team,” said Stevens.

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More precisely: he is doing everything to contribute to the team. The floor is widespread. Attack the close. He even published sometimes. Protects the edge. He defends himself in space. He does everything, really.

Announcement

Now he will do everything to Golden State, where both sides of the ball require his level of basketball know-how. There is a lot on Warriors, who boast veterans Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green. What sweet rotations their decades of circle will produce. If only they can be healthy at their advanced ages.

In Golden State, at least Horford can cling to a possibility, even to an external one, on another ring.

Everything changed to Boston when Tatum broke the Achille Right tendon in the game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Gone was shot in Boston to become the first NBA repetition sample since 2018. Gone has been the Horford championship window, at least for now, and now it’s all that is almost 40 years old.

Attaching Boston in the face, on the other hand, was the second apron of the NBA, a punitive construct for the salary limit that in the end cost to the Celtics both Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis. They could have found a way to stay under the second apron and keep Horford for the next season, but it could have cost them Sam Hauser and what happened to? Certainly not to extinct Horford’s incessant thirst for another championship.

Announcement

Horford’s departure from Boston is more a declaration on the inability of the Celtics to win a title this season than for their will to spend to keep it. Do not exclude another return to Boston, once Tatum returns to health, since the Celtics will reopen the championship window in 2027 and beyond.

Horford is aged in this way. You never know when in the end he calls him to stop, but when he will do it, it will be when he no longer feels that he can help win the same way. This is not that moment.