Not that many people seem bullish on the Golden State Warriors this season. They had to deal with the saga of forward Jonathan Kuminga’s contract holdout all summer long, and while he agreed to a two-year deal just days ago, there is always the possibility he still gets moved before the trade deadline.
While the Warriors have depth, they also have one of the NBA’s oldest rosters. Their oldest player is center Al Horford, who was signed as a free agent on Oct. 1 shortly after Kuminga agreed to his new deal. Horford is 39 years of age, and one has to wonder how much he has left in his tank.
But assuming he still has some game left, he could help the Warriors at a position they were weak at last season. That is the message former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone had on ESPN’s “NBA Countdown,” and he even called him a “match made in heaven” for Golden State and superstar Stephen Curry.
“They’ve added a proficient 3-point shooting big man in Al Horford,” Malone said. “Champion, high character, culture — Steve Kerr talked about it — they haven’t had this spacing, 1 through 5, in a long time.”
“… The number of wide-open shots that he’s going to get is going to spread out their offense and make a really tough offensive team to guard even that much harder.
“… Steve Kerr, historically, has not been a big pick-and-roll coach,” Malone observed. “They haven’t had maybe the players…now, you’re adding a guy [in] in the last ten years who is one of the most prolific pick-and-pop bigs the game has seen. So, I think this is a match made in heaven. I know Steph Curry has to be really excited.”
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Early in his career, Horford, who was the No. 3 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, was a major centerpiece for the Atlanta Hawks. At one point in the early to mid-2010s, he was in the discussion as arguably the best center in basketball.
He has made the All-Star team five times and has career averages of 12.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.1 blocks a game. In 2016, he joined the Boston Celtics as a free agent, and after spending the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers and Oklahoma City Thunder, respectively, he returned to Boston.
During his second stint with the Celtics, he served as an elder statesman and glue guy while contributing heavily to their run to the NBA championship in 2024. Last season, he put up nine points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.9 blocks in 27.7 minutes a game while shooting 42.3% from the field and 36.3% from 3-point range.
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Horford will be called upon to upgrade the Warriors at the center position, a position they have historically been weak at throughout the Curry era, even when they won four world titles not too long ago.
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