Celtics should take a page out of Heat's Haslem playbook and re-sign Horford for 2 years

Al Horford who recently celebrated his 39th birthday this month isn't ready to retire as seen by his presence this offseason at the Celtics' training facility. Problem is due to the Celtics mandate to get below the 2nd Apron, which has cost them already Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, coupled with Jayson Tatum's injury, this coming season won't be a contending one for Boston.

Why not though re-sign Horford to a two year contract with the expectation that this coming season would be less of a workload year and then when Tatum returns and the team is retooled for the 2026-27 season, Horford can still be a key part of the bench rotation? If you let Horford walk (again) there is no guarantee he would return in a year's time. Also it would be far from the worst thing to have Horford on the roster this coming season in a mentor role for whatever bigs will now have to step into major minutes roles.

The Miami Heat carried Udonis Haslem for what seemed like at least a decade after he stopped being a functional rotation piece. Horford at his advanced age is still a much better player than Haslem was all those years. There's only so many players you can let go from your championship squad before that winning culture is completely gone. Horford would be a nice bridge for Tatum when he returns as Jayson learns to play with the newest Celtics.

A guaranteed two year contract would also allow the Celtics to pay Al a bit less this coming season, which is key since Brad Stevens is tasked with filling out the rest of this coming season's roster on the cheap. The guess here is that even if Stevens goes nuclear and trades Jaylen Brown and/or Derrick White as well, his intention would still be to field a contending roster for the 2026-27 season when Tatum returns.

The Celtics aren't going full rebuild (trading both Jay's), so whether Tatum returns to a team with Brown and White or not, they will still be built to win in 2026-27. If the Heat could carry Haslem on their roster "for the culture" all those years I see no reason why Celtics fans would complain about Horford taking up a roster spot this bridge year while not playing much and serving as a defacto extra assistant coach/mentor. He'd be rested for his age 40 season a year later when Banner 19 would be back in sight.


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