Report: Adding Kemba ‘never gave (Celtics) a chance' to bring Horford back

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The Boston Celtics appeared to be on the verge of a potential collapse in 2019 free agency. Kyrie Irving was set to leave the team. Al Horford had a $30 million player option, but he declined it and seemed resigned to depart as well.

Then, the team got a spark of hope when Kemba Walker came through the door. Walker chose to sign a max contract with the Celtics and the "great leader" seemed like the perfect replacement for Irving. And once it was apparent that Walker was coming to the C's, there was some hope that Horford could choose to return to the team if they had contender potential again.

However, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe, that opportunity never really existed, as Horford had already committed to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Losing Horford was a big blow for the Celtics, as the big man was a well-rounded player who was one of their key, versatile defenders. The Celtics made a move to replace him with Enes Kanter, a strong rebounder and low-post scorer, and will likely platoon Kanter with the lanky, defensive-minded Robert Williams.

As for Horford, he will join one of the strongest looking starting lineups in the NBA. Horford will also play alongside Joel Embiid, who Horford had a tendency of stopping in head-to-head matchups over the course of the year. That's one of the biggest boons in the deal for the 76ers, as they won't run into Horford in the postseason.

While retaining Horford along with adding Walker would have been nice, it wasn't in the cards for the Celtics. They'll hope that the options they have in the frontcourt in Kanter, Williams, and Daniel Theis can progress enough to lessen the blow of his departure.

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