Al Horford, it seems, had a lot on his mind during his foray into 2016 free agency over the summer.
The Atlanta Hawks were never really irrelevant in the race for his services, though their acquisition of Dwight Howard essentially sealed his departure, even if they were willing to deal Paul Millsap elsewhere. And it was only last week that Horford deemed the Houston Rockets his second choice by the end of his process.
As we all know, he chose the Boston Celtics. But, in addition to everyone else, the Oklahoma City Thunder were apparently on the table as well. As he said, per ESPN.com’s Chris Forsberg:
Al Horford said he considered the Oklahoma City Thunder during free agency this summer in part because of coach Billy Donovan, who coached Horford at Florida. “I didn’t say this to anybody, but I was strongly considering [OKC] and just the possibilities of playing under coach again. Those were realistic things, but at the end of the day I made my decision to be here with Boston.”
The Thunder would have been a more attractive option had Kevin Durant decided to stick around. Oklahoma City would have needed to dump Enes Kanter, but general manager Sam Presti probably had a deal lined up for that scenario.
Could you imagine a core of Russell Westbrook, Steve Adams, Victor Oladipo, Horford and Durant? And could you picture Horford reuniting with Billy Donovan, his coach at Florida?
Oklahoma City would have been lit, no doubt. Still, even if Durant had remained with the Thunder, the Celtics always offered the most seamless fit. From a mid-career transition perspective, Horford made the right choice and needn’t second-guess his decision.
