With the Golden State Warriors sinking out of the playoff picture and the Boston Celtics surging into championship contention, Al Horford's free agency decision last offseason was starting to look like the wrong move.
Yet even with the Warriors' season well and truly over after a Play-In Tournament elimination, Horford has got some late vidication for his decision after the Celtics suffered a shock meltdown against the Philadelphia 76ers in their first-round playoff series.
Celtics shock meltown gives Al Horford late vindication
Boston were in command after a 32-point blowout victory on the road in Game 4 gave them a 3-1 series lead over the 76ers. Yet Philadelphia battled back with a road win in Game 5 and a comfortable double-digit victory at home in Game 6, forcing a deciding Game 7 back at TD Garden.
With Jayson Tatum sidelined with the season on the line, the 76ers completed the remarkable comeback on Saturday with a hard-fought 109-100 victory that sees them advance to a second-round series against the New York Knicks.
As much as Horford may have been rooting for his former team, there would surely have been some level of regret had the Celtics gone onto make the Eastern Conference Finals, NBA Finals or even all the way to the NBA championship.
Horford did have the opportunity to stay in Boston where he'd been for seven of the past nine seasons, having won his maiden championship just a year earlier in 2024. The veteran center would have had to take less money to remain at the Celtics, but that wasn't the only motivation for departing and heading to the Warriors.
Al Horford's decision doesn't look so bad after Celtics elimination
Speaking to Nick Friedell of The Athletic last October, Horford expressed his concern over Boston's ability to be the contender that a 39-year-old wants to be on at the pointy end of his career.
Jayson Tatum's torn achilles injury, the fact Golden State had finished last season so strongly, and the slightly bigger contract gave Horford obvious reasons for the decision. However, up until these last three games, things had completely flipped.
It was the Warriors who suffered major injury setbacks (including to Horford himself) which saw them descend into free-fall, while the Celtics were one of the most impressive teams during the regular season and were primed for a deep run after Tatum returned in early March.
Now, following the Celtics' surprise elimination in the first-round, Horford doesn't have to think so much about what could have been had he stayed in Boston. Whether the 5x All-Star has any regrets will only be known deep down, but we'll get a strong indication shortly as Horford holds a $6 million player option with the Warriors for next season.
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