Warriors sign center Al Horford

Al Horford (Erik Drost, Wikimedia Commons)

The Golden State Warriors made an interesting decision on Sunday. According to Rogers Sportsnet, they signed center Al Horford of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic to a multi-year contract. We do not know about any of the financial details or the length of the contract at this time.

It is an interesting decision by the Warriors to give Horford a multi-year contract. That is because he is currently 39 years old and past his prime.

The Warriors are Horford’s fifth National Basketball Association franchise. He was previously with the Atlanta Hawks for nine seasons (2007 to 2016), seven seasons with the Boston Celtics in two different stints (2016 to 2019 and 2021 to 2025), and one season each with the Philadelphia 76ers (2019 to 2020), and Oklahoma City Thunder (2020 to 2021).

Five times Horford has been a NBA All-Star. He was honoured with the Hawks in 2009-10, 2010-11, 2014-15, and 2015-16. Horford was also honoured while with the Celtics in 2017-18. Also while with the Celtics in 2024, Horford won the NBA Finals.

This past season, Horford averaged nine points per game, 6.2 rebounds per game, and 2.1 assists per game. He had a field goal percentage of .423, three point percentage of .363, and free throw percentage of .895.

What is also interesting is that Horford could actually be a starting center in Golden State, on a team whose starters have an average of 35.8 years old! Draymond Green is currently slated as the backup center and starting power forward. This is a veteran group in Golden State as Green is 35, starting point guard Stephen Curry is 37, starting shooting guard Buddy Hield is 32, and starting small forward Jimmy Butler is 36.