Atlanta Hawks Would Be Crazy To Trade Al Horford At Deadline

Al Horford has been mentioned in trade rumors lately, and the Atlanta Hawks would be absolutely crazy to ship out the big man. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Kevin Arnovitz first reported the possibility, and this was their reasoning for it.

“The expectation is a robust market for Horford, who will be an unrestricted free agent for the first time this summer after nine seasons with the Hawks,” they wrote. “Because of the anticipated demand, Horford is likely to receive offers up to the maximum amount, which would be $144.5 million over five years should he stay with the Hawks.”

Apparently, the Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets and Orlando Magic have been particularly aggressive about pursuing Horford, and Boston is clearly the most interesting team in that group. He could propel them to the Eastern Conference Finals, and it should be intriguing to see what the Hawks end up doing. If they do trade him, then they better get at least two first-rounders back. This is because Horford is averaging 15.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.5 blocks per game on a loaded team. But the Hawks are 31-24 this season, which is mildly disappointing considering how brilliant they were during the 2014-15 campaign.

Horford is replacing Chris Bosh in the All-Star Game, but Al probably won’t get heavy minutes on a stacked Eastern Conference team. The festivities for the weekend have started already, and hopefully it is a great few days of basketball.

The Hawks are also shopping Jeff Teague, and this makes a lot more sense. They could get a comparable player back for him like George Hill and possibly draft picks also. Atlanta would miss Teague much less than they would Horford, because they have a capable backup PG in Dennis Schroder.

Many teams will work the phones in the next week, and there will be at least one or two trades made. The only question is what franchises will decide to pull the trigger, and the Hawks should take their time with this dilemma and ultimately choose to keep Horford in the fold. Will it be expensive to retain him in the long run? Yes, but it is worth the cost. Teams don’t find a player like that every day.