How were the Celtics able to get Al Horford back last offseason? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
His performance against the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals was one for the ages, but Al Horford has been a boon for the Boston Celtics all year long.
How exactly were the C’s able to bring Horford back for a second tour of duty in green?
According to Chris Mannix on Boston Sports Tonight, the Celtics were the only team willing to attach an asset — in this case, a first-round draft pick — to a bad contract in order to pry the 35-year-old Horford and his deal from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Celtics-Bucks takeaways: ‘Playoff Al’ takes over in Game 4
“Every team that called Oklahoma City, they wanted the Thunder to attach an asset to take Al Horford,” Mannix said. “The Celtics were the only team to offer something in exchange.”
The full trade: Boston dealt Kemba Walker — who had two years and roughly $73 million remaining on his deal — along with a 2021 first-round draft pick and 2025 second-round pick to the Thunder in exchange for Horford, Moses Brown and a 2023 second-round pick on June 18, 2021.
Like Walker, Horford had two years left on his contract — but he had only $41.5 million guaranteed remaining on his deal at the time of the trade. OKC would ultimately buy out Walker, who later signed with the New York Knicks but fell out of their rotation during the regular season.
Boston, meanwhile, got a version of Horford close enough to the one that played for the team for three seasons after he signed a four-year, $113 million deal at the outset of free agency in July 2016. Horford would ultimately opt out of the final year of that deal and sign with the Philadelphia 76ers in July 2019, where he spent one ill-fated season before he was dealt to OKC in December 2020. Horford appeared in 28 games for the Thunder in 2020-21 before the team shut him down as it embraced its way to the top of the draft order.
While Horford’s 10.2 points per contest over 69 games (all starts) for the C’s was his lowest scoring figure since he was a rookie with the Atlanta Hawks in 2007-08, Boston no longer needed Horford to be a focal point of the offense thanks to the continued emergence of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Horford had the best offensive rating of his career this season (124), per Basketball Reference, and on nights like Monday’s Game 4 at Fiserv Forum, showed he could still deliver in real time when called upon.
Horford has one year left on his deal at $26.5 million, with $14.5 guaranteed, per Spotrac, a far from onerous figure which will give the Celtics room to maneuver moving forward.
