As the Golden State Warriors have awaited a resolution to their stand-off with Jonathan Kuminga this offseason, there have been a number of uncertainties that have hung over the outlook for next season.
Yet, one thing the organization has expressed confidence in is that veteran center Al Horford will be joining the team once Kuminga's contract is resolved, and this fact is only intensified by the stark direction that the Boston Celtics have taken this offseason.
Following the brutal Achilles injury that Jayson Tatum sustained in the second round of the playoffs, the Celtics have offloaded numerous contracts, attempting to scale back their efforts for a year in anticipation of returning to contention in the near future. Yet, with his former team's outlook being bleaker than ever, Horford has no incentive to go anywhere other than The Bay.
Horford's most logical choice is to sign with the Warriors
On the most recent episode of The Kevin O'Connor show, special guest Slightly Biased, an NBA Analyst and content creator, had this to say regarding Boston's outlook for next season: "Is there a reason [the Celtics aren't] going to be dreadful? I'm trying... to think of a reason why this team won't be trying to purposefully lose games after the trade deadline."
While his choice of descriptors might be slightly hyperbolic, it is quite possible that the Celtics, after being one of the best teams in the league for multiple years in a row, are either on the fringe of the play-in or out of the playoff discussion entirely come March.
Having traded away veterans Jrue Holliday and Kristaps Porzingis and having lost Luke Kornet in free agency, it is somewhat surprising that Boston has not signalled a willingness to bring Horford back into the fold to anchor their rotation on a relatively cheap contract.
At the same time, however, Horford, who has played a whopping 18 seasons in the NBA and won a championship with the Celtics, certainly wants to continue to compete with whatever gas he has left in the tank.
The Warriors, with their desperate need for a reliable center and their position as a potential contender in the Western Conference, should be enough to entice Horford to give it one more go with a new organization.
Yet, as tempting as it might be for Horford to look back to the organization he has called home for almost half of his career, the Celtics have made a tough choice as easy as it could possibly be.