Though he had to wait for months to officially announce it, the Golden State Warriors were always the only team Al Horford considered signing with in free agency. Retirement, he didn\u2019t consider at all.<\/p>\n
Horford has played 18 seasons in the NBA since the Atlanta Hawks made him the No. 3 pick in the 2007 Draft, after he won two straight titles at the University of Florida. But he told reporters that he never considered retiring in the offseason, though the Warriors were the only team he would have left the Boston Celtics for.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt wasn\u2019t an easy decision for me to leave Boston,\u201d said Horford. \u201cBut if there was the place, that was this one, and it happened and I happened to give this opportunity, so I jumped at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Horford was excited to join the Warriors to play with Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Jimmy Butler, all of whom he\u2019d battled with in playoff series in recent years. He specifically mentioned how good the team was after trading for Butler at the deadline, when they closed the season winning 23 of 30 games that Butler played.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think about\u2026what he did in that second half of the season last year after the trade and how they\u2019re playing,\u201d Horford explained.<\/p>\n
While Horford initially thought he\u2019d be staying with the Celtics, that changed after Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles tendon during the team\u2019s second-round loss to the New York Knicks. Suddenly, the expensive Celtics were in payroll-cutting mode, trading Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers and Kristaps Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks. Boston seemed to content to take a \u201cgap year\u201d to trim their massive tax bill and possibly get under the luxury tax, and Horford was a luxury they couldn\u2019t afford in a year where they aren\u2019t really going for it.<\/p>\n
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Not only does Horford get to hang out with a starting lineup that\u2019s almost all guys his own age, who can talk about being alive before the Super Nintendo was available in the United States, his contract has a player option for 2026-27. In other words, he can always go back to Boston and rejoin his old friends.<\/p>\n
Until then, Steve Kerr and the Warriors are excited to have a stretch big man like Horford, who played center and power forward in Boston. That means he can make up for the lack of outside shooting from forwards Butler, Green, and the newly-resigned Jonathan Kuminga, while also playing the four if Trayce Jackson-Davis or Quinten Post is on the court.<\/p>\n