TL;DR
- Al Horford left the Boston Celtics for the Golden State Warriors, seeking better championship chances.
- Horford's performance has declined with the Warriors, who have a 10-10 record.
- Celtics fans are mocking Horford online for his misjudged move.
- The Celtics remain competitive despite Jayson Tatum's injury, potentially heading for the Finals.
Often, the alternative isn't as appealing as it initially seems, a realization that usually comes from difficult experience.
In the period between seasons, the 39-year-old center Al Horford opted to make the difficult choice to depart from a Boston Celtics team, which was just a year removed from winning a championship, and instead sign with a Golden State Warriors team that has faced difficulties in the playoffs since their NBA championship victory in 2022.
This transition has been harsh in all conceivable respects, with Horford performing like a shadow of his past capabilities (he's achieving a career-low in scoring and his three-point accuracy has suffered), and the Warriors have begun the season with a disheartening 10-10 standing.
On Friday, NESN’s Collin Keane didn’t mince his words on Horford leaving Boston for a worse situation in the Bay.
“When Al Horford decided to sign with the Golden State Warriors this past offseason rather than return to the Boston Celtics, most fans assumed it was for money reasons,” Keane wrote.
“However, Horford turned heads later on when he admitted that competitive reasons went into his Golden State move. Horford suggested that once he saw that Jayson Tatum was likely done for the 2025-26 season, it made more sense to go to a place (Golden State) where he had a better chance to win a title.”
Horford, though, clearly misjudged his chances in that respect, and supporters of the Celtics are mocking him online because of it. If Horford had simply stayed put and maintained his allegiance to the Celts, he would be in line for a potential comeback to the NBA Finals.
Keane didn’t miss the mark on his assessment of Horford thus far.
Although the Celtics and Horford suffered a significant setback with Tatum's Achilles injury, the 6-foot-7 player has been showing consistent improvement and might be back on the court in the latter half of the season.
Consequently, Boston absolutely needs to stay competitive within a rather unexceptional Eastern Conference until Tatum ideally returns to the team for a playoff surge near the season's end.
Regrettably for Horford, he failed to grasp the foresight, leading him to take an action that now troubles him.
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