Al Horford: “I could continue to do those types of displays”
[video/interview/transcript/commentary]
Good thing the Al Horford Experience happened in crunch time at the LA Clippers and on the national stage that the Play-in was.
Not only did that performance demonstrate that the Warriors still have that championship DNA, albeit when fully healthy and rested, but it may have kept Horford from retirement — maybe.
Thanks to a question from Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area at Golden State’s exit interviews a few days ago, it seems like Al still wants to scratch that itch.
“It told me that I have that ability to be able to do that,” said Horford. “And at that point it was like, I work so hard to put myself in those positions and to be able to be in those moments, so when those moments come, or at any point, I feel like I’m capable, that I can do that. I put in a lot of work. I put in a lot of time, but I’m confident that those displays, I could continue to do those types of displays.”
I think we can cross out the retirement option. I love how he used the word “displays”. Ballers always want to “display” their talents.
The only time I really had a moment like that was at the Chinese New Year Tournament eons ago. I scored 21 in front of a packed house in San Francisco’s Chinatown, pushing oneof the mainstays of the tourney, Cornerstone Church, to the brink in a double-elimination format. Even had my name printed in the SF Chronicle in the tiny little “Community Basketball” section where all the other linescores and stats went, on the back page.
However, one big difference: my buckets didn’t come in crunch time. That was always the one thing I couldn’t quite reach at the highest levels — known as “AA” in the nomenclature of the Nippon Athletic Union — of amateur Asian ball. Maybe I’ll delve into that some other day, but if you search on Conant Chi on this website, you’ll get a sense of who are the MVPs of “AA” ball.
After that tournament, I soon found myself as the “Poor Man’s Commish”, building a basketball league across the Bay for the guys that played in the tournaments I had played in, so that was kind of the abrupt end of my serious playing career. I mean, I still had good games in various league play and what not, but never again in front of a meaningful or prestigious tournament crowd, just in mostly empty gyms.
But yeah, if there was ever an itch to hoop, “displays” are it. And Al can do them at the highest level on the planet and in peak crunch time.
So if I’ve experienced putting on a display in non-crunch time, I can only imagine its effects in crunch time, as Al showed us. Based on that, I’ll guess he’s coming back. The chance to display can sometimes be that much of an addiction.
But the next problem is, in my opinion, maybe the Boston Celtics want him back, too? I have not delved into this much yet, and perhaps my colleague, salary cap expert Yossi Gozlan of Third Apron has some ideas, but I would think the Celtics sneaking Al in at around a Taxpayer Midlevel Exception ($6-ish million) would not be that difficult and they could theoretically offer him a one-plus-one just like the Warriors did, if their cap sheet allows.
But I doubt Al is getting an offer anywhere near the TPMLE from any other team besides the Celtics, hypothetically.
Also, Horford addressed previous cryptic statements about Boston, see transcript below, but it did sound like the Celtics chapter of his career is over. You never know.
For now, them and Denver are the only other team out there that are championship-caliber and could value someone as old as Horford, but the Nuggets already have $10 million committed to Jonas Valanciunas next season. Whew! 😅
This might not be resolved until the deadline for player options, which is June 29th, about a week after the 2026 Draft. What happens with the Draft Lottery as well as Horford taking or passing on his player option will help clue us in on how the roster will look.
The way things stand with the cap sheet and the aprons right now, it looks like the Warriors can keep either Horford or De’Anthony Melton, but not both. Here’s a primer for the 2026-27 salary cap sheet situation, joined by my co-host Dean “of Positivity” Chambers:
Of course, the big Steve Kerr decision could branch off an entirely new Warriors universe, so there’s always that. We will talk about that more as I determine whether or not it is worth my time to transcribe the super-awesome Warriors Plus-Minus pod that Tim Kawakami of the SF Standard and Marcus Thompson and Nick Friedell of The Athletic did postgame Phoenix in dissecting Kerr’s impending decision — which obviously also involves Joe Lacob, Mike Dunleavy, Jr. and one Wardell Stephen Curry — but for now, my thought is that the Draft Lottery on May 10th is important.
Shouldn’t the results of the Lottery serve as a data point towards Kerr staying as head coach or not?
Full transcript of Horford behind the paywall…
00:00 Hey, Al.
00:07 AL HORFORD, EXIT INTERVIEW: What’s up?
00:08 What’s up?
00:09 How’s it going?
00:09 Just how would you assess how this season went for you, between the injuries and everything that’s happened with the team?
00:17 Yeah, I felt like it was a good season for me, a learning experience being in a new environment and seeing things in different ways, but I think it was good in that sense. Obviously, not pleased with some of the injuries and missing some of the games and obviously everything that happened with our group as a team. We didn’t accomplish or achieve what we wanted to, so that wasn’t it, but individually I felt like it was good for me. It was — I’m still at Year 19. I feel like I’m still growing and developing, so that was positive and I felt like it was a positive step for me, basketball-wise.
01:13 You didn’t need to come here. You were an accomplished NBA player way before you even got here. What brought you here and why? I mean, I assume you probably want to keep going, but what do you stand on that?
01:25 Yeah I felt like it was a nice opportunity and a challenge to be here and to play with some of these great players and this great franchise. That’s the reality of being here and for me these next few — about this week, week-and-a-half, I’ll be speaking with (wife) Amelia and just thinking about everything and seeing kind of what we’re gonna do with our future so that’s kind of where we’re at.
02:05 So you’re not decided yet what you want to do?
02:07 Not yet, no.
02:08 Yeah.
02:08 Mm-hmm.
02:09 How much do you like it here?
02:12 We really like it here. Yeah. Yeah, we like it.
02:16 Steve’s future is obviously uncertain right now. Just what has your experience been with him this season, just having him as your coach and what have you kind of gotten from that?
02:27 It’s been a very positive experience for me. Steve, just such a legendary coach already in its own and just getting to see how he, he how he operates, how he thinks, it’s been great for me to be able to learn and see those things, so it’s been for me, it’s just really a big learning experience, just trying to take different things in and just see how how I can be better and see how he does things and how he’s thinking the game and things like that, so it’s been a very positive experience.
03:11 When it comes to your future, what are some of the factors that you and your family might consider in terms of how you want the rest of your career to unfold?
03:22 Yeah, I mean, I think that for me, it has to do with not rushing to anything or not let emotions or heat of the moment determine anything, so I just think it’s — I’ve done this the last few years and it’s just kind of taking time to step back and have a clearer picture, look at the outlook of the team, looking at the future of the team, how things look and also seeing kinda where I’m at and how I’m feeling and, fortunately for me, I’m healthy. I feel good. I still feel like I can contribute and play at a very high level, still, so those are all things that I’m gonna look at. And now that everything kind of gets quiet it’s something that I’ll reflect on all that.
04:19 To follow up on exactly that, obviously you have a decision with the option, whatever you’re gonna do, next couple weeks. Is retirement off the table? I mean, are you confident that you’ll play somewhere next year?
04:34 That’s a good question. That’s a really good question. Yeah, it’s definitely — that’s been on my mind, but I just, I enjoy playing and being in this position and definitely taking all that stuff into consideration.
05:02 Both Quinten (Post) and Charles (Bassey) talked about just how you’ve kind of helped them along, big men. And I remember I asked you a while back, I said, would you want to coach? And you were like, nah, I don’t think so, but I mean, it seems like you have a lot to offer. And what is it you try to do to the young guys on this team, the young guys that — what kind of advice did you offer those guys?
05:23 Yeah for me, it’s really trying to give them perspective, but also trying to help them see things and try to help them become better players and trying to understand kind of how the league operates and works and things like that, so — and any chance that I can to talk to them or give them advice or tell them different things, that’s what I’ve tried to do in this season, or making sure that I’m always making myself available if they have questions or if they want to talk about the game or experiences of mine. So always just trying to be mindful to help them. That’s just finding a way to kind of pay it forward and be there for them.
06:16 And those four threes that you banged in LA, did that tell you anything about yourself that you didn’t already know?
06:25 Yeah, I mean, I think it was rewarding, but something that, I guess, to answer your question, I think yes, I think it told me that I have that ability to be able to do that. And at that point it was like, I work so hard to put myself in those positions and to be able to be in those moments, so when those moments come, or at any point, I feel like I’m capable, that I can do that. I put in a lot of work. I put in a lot of time, but I’m confident that those displays, I could continue to do those types of displays.
07:13 Hi Al, what’s your favorite moment in this season?
07:20 My favorite moment in this season. Man, I think, there’s — I would have to say that win against the Clippers, going on the road and being in the Play-in and it wasn’t quite playoff basketball, but kind of fighting for your playoff lives and giving ourselves an opportunity. I felt like our group was so resilient that game. We’ve already had so much adversity and then being down multiple times and not knowing what was gonna happen, but for us to find a way to group, band together as a group and figure it out and win the game, it felt very rewarding in a season that we were just kinda our backs against the walls all year and bad news after bad news, or different things happening and finding a way to still care and try to represent the Warriors in the right way. That, to me, was important. I know that our fans appreciated that. And I think they understand that we didn’t — we gave everything we had for the fans and we appreciate the fans in that matter. And I think it showed with the way that we played, even the Phoenix game. Obviously, we lost that, but I felt like we were playing hard and we were trying to do our best.
08:53 Al, obviously when you got here, the hope was that there could be title contention.
08:58 Mm-hmm.
08:58 Like you mentioned, injuries, a hundred things happen. If in the thought process of the next few weeks there’s a reality that that may not happen here, how much would that impact your decision of whatever you decide to do for next year?
09:18 Yeah, I don’t know. I think those are all things that are fair questions and then we’ll have to ask and address, but like I said, I like being here. We’ve gotten acclimated, my family and I, to be here and those are questions, all that stuff that is gonna be going through our minds.
09:46 When the Celtics were here, I guess, a few months ago at this point, you said that your departure from Boston was about something bigger than basketball. What did you mean by that?
09:56 Yeah. Yeah, that’s a good que — that’s a question that kind of stayed out there, kind of open-ended, but what I meant by that was that a lot of the times, when people are making decisions are making decisions, there’s also the things that you see and the things that kind of make sense for the human eye and the things like that, but the way that I operate and that I’ve carried my career, it’s been through my faith. And when I went to Boston, man, that was 10 years ago, so it was 10 years ago. Boston wasn’t what it was now. They were in the middle of a team that they just lost to the Hawks and I was on the Hawks team and we beat them. And there was other places that I could’ve gone that would’ve put me in a better position, but I chose to go to Boston and and take that chance. But I took it because of my faith, because that was the place for me that I felt that — there was that I needed to be. And then when all of this happened I felt like it was time for me — I shouldn’t say I felt, I knew that it was time for me to move on. Nothing to do with Boston, but again, following my faith, my belief, and I knew that I had to go elsewhere. And when I looked at it, I felt like here was a place for me to be able to do things. And sometimes it’s bigger than basketball for me. That’s what I meant by that. There are other things that I need to do and accomplish, and that’s why that decision was made. It wasn’t an easy decision for me to leave Boston because for me, I was very happy there with my family and everything, but I just felt like I didn’t feel like I knew it was the right time and this was the next challenge and the next step for me. And now I’m here. And it’s gonna be interesting to see kind of what happens now, but I have to be able to embrace this new challenge that I have.
12:17 What are some of those things that you wanted to accomplish and do you feel like you did this year?
12:22 Well, I mean, I think time will tell with some of these things, but I came here to try to contend and try to win a championship. And I don’t shy away from that. And I failed helping the team do that and we failed as a group, but that’s still something that would be, if I decide to come back here and decide to continue to play. It’s something that it’s in my sights and something that we would like to accomplish.
🫶💙💛