Celtics Rumors: NBA Insider Provides Unfortunate Update on Al Horford Free Agency

Former five-time All-Star Boston Celtics power forward/center Al Horford remains unsigned over a month into free agency this summer.

That isn't to say he doesn't have suitors.

But the longer he waits for, say, the Golden State Warriors to take care of other business, could he be getting more amenable to a featured role on the Boston Celtics?

With Kristaps Porzingis now out of the picture, the path is ostensibly cleared for him to become Boston's permanent starter — although the team has virtually no shot to win a title after losing All-Star forward Jayson Tatum to an Achilles tendon tear this past spring.

Per longtime NBA insider Marc Stein, Horford appears to still be waiting on the Warriors to figure out the fate of restricted free agent power forward Jonathan Kuminga.

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"With no end in sight to Kuminga's ongoing restricted free agency stalemate with Golden State, playing international basketball this summer would come with obvious injury risk," Stein explained of Kuminga's reticence to partake in this month's FIBA AfroBasket tournament.

"Kuminga has been unwilling to date to accept Golden State's offer of a two-year deal in the $45 million range. The 22-year-old’s resistance stems in part from the Warriors' insistence that such a deal include a team option in Year 2 and their request that Kuminga waive the right to block trades in Year 1 that such a contract would provide him under what is often referred to as a One-Year Bird classification," Stein adds.

Essentially, Kuminga's stasis has had a trickle-down impact on Horford's free agency. The 6-foot-9 big man, a former five-time All-Star in his prime, has long been linked to the Warriors — along with ex-Warriors guard De'Anthony Melton and 2022 champ Gary Payton II — this offseason.

Per Stein, that trio will need to wait to link up with Golden State.

"Al Horford, De'Anthony Melton and Gary Payton II have all long been expected to sign with the Warriors this summer but remain on hold when it comes to making those deals official while the Kuminga situation plays out," Stein writes.

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