NBA Rumors: Al Horford Could Sign Four-Year, $112 Million Contract With Mavericks, Per ‘ESPN’s MacMullan
After a 2018-19 NBA season filled with drama and frustration, the Boston Celtics are now facing a huge dilemma in the 2019 NBA offseason. Aside from Kyrie Irving, who is highly expected to join the Brooklyn Nets, the Celtics are also on the verge of losing another core player in the 2019 NBA free agency – Al Horford. When he opted out of the final year of his contract to become an unrestricted free agent, the popular belief was that Horford would be renegotiating a new contract with the Celtics.
Unfortunately, in a Twitter post, Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald revealed that Al Horford and his camp are no longer discussing a new deal with the Celtics and added that the veteran center is expected to sign a four-year contract somewhere else. In a recent appearance on The Hoop Collective podcast, Brian Windhorst and Jackie MacMullan of ESPN discussed Horford and his impending free agency.
When his contract negotiation with the Celtics fell apart, ESPN‘s Brian Windhorst said that Al Horford knew that there was another offer waiting for him. ESPN‘s Jackie MacMullan echoed the same sentiment as Windhorst and named the Dallas Mavericks as one of the NBA teams who could go after Horford in the 2019 NBA free agency. MacMullan revealed that Horford could sign a four-year, $112 million contract with the Mavericks this summer.
“I think the Celtics made him a good offer. I can’t tell you what it was, but I do think they made him a four-year offer that was a pretty healthy one,” MacMullan said, as quoted by MassLive.
“Think about that. I think Al’s 37 at the end of that contract, so it’s not like they said they’re going to lowball 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. So, I think there’s going to be some big money there for Al Horford.”
Al Horford will not exercise $30.1M player option on contract, hopeful for new deal with Celtics, per reporthttps://t.co/haRj7OIOkr pic.twitter.com/Hr5xDpCJQf
— CBS Sports NBA (@CBSSportsNBA) June 18, 2019
Signing Al Horford makes sense for the Mavericks. Horford will give the Mavericks a dominant presence under the basket while waiting for Kristaps Porzingis to fully recover from a torn ACL. With his ability to play the power forward and center positions and knock down shots from beyond the arc, Horford won’t have a hard time making himself fit alongside Porzingis in the Mavericks’ frontcourt once he’s allowed to play again.
On Twitter, Marc Stein of the New York Times confirmed that there is a four-year, $112 million contract waiting for Al Horford in the 2019 NBA free agency. However, a source who spoke to Stein denied that such a deal will be coming from the Mavericks. Other NBA teams who are reportedly interested in signing Horford include the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers.
