Al Horford signs a $20 million, two-year contract with the Celtics

Al Horford’s agent says on Thursday morning that the Boston Celtics center has agreed to a two-year, $20 million contract extension that keeps him with the team until he turns 39 years old in 2025.

Five-time All-Star Al Horford is nearing the end of his four-year, $109 million contract.The new contract, which will begin in 2023-2024, will pay Horford $26.5 million this season.

The 2019 scenario in which Horford left the Celtics for a more lucrative free agency offer is now out of the question thanks to the extension.Indiana’s Myles Turner, Chicago’s Nikola Vucevic, Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez, Dallas’ Christian Wood, and San Antonio’s Jakob Poeltl are among the free agents available next summer.

In his second stint with the Celtics, Al Horford has emerged as an essential component of a championship contender and has experienced a career revival.He has continued to be a productive player at the age of 36, and the Boston community and the locker room continue to hold him in high regard.

In 2018, Horford was named to the second team of the All-Defensive team and an All-Star team.

According to research conducted by ESPN Stats & Information, Horford’s appearance in the NBA Finals last season ended the league’s longest playoff drought, which spanned 141 postseason games, without a conference championship.

This season, in place of injured starting center Robert Williams III, Horford is leading the Celtics’ front line and is averaging 10.9 points and 6.3 rebounds in 31 minutes per game.ESPN Stats & Info data shows that Horford has shot 55.5 percent from the floor and 48.8 percent on 3-pointers, which ranks third among centers.

With his performance in Game 1 against Golden State, Horford became only the fourth player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to score 25 points on 75% shooting in a Finals debut.

According to Second Spectrum tracking, Horford contested more shots in the NBA playoffs in 2022 than any other player, with 437.Since player tracking began a decade ago, he is one of five players to challenge at least 400 shots in a postseason.

In 2019, Horford signed a four-year, $109 million free agent contract with Philadelphia. In 2020, he was traded to Oklahoma City, where he remained until the Celtics re-acquired him in 2021.

Horford, number oneFlorida’s third-round selection in the 2007 NBA draft, he spent his first nine NBA seasons with the Atlanta Hawks before signing with Boston in free agency in 2016.

Before his stints with the 76ers and Thunder and his 2021 return to Boston, Horford spent three years with the Celtics.