The Hawks just gave Joe Johnson a bajillion dollars. But several members of their team are also looking for payday, including Al Horford, who was the Hawks’ other All-Star last season. He’s due for an extension and there had been talks that the Hawks would get one done soon. Looks like that may not be the case.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that talks with Horford have stalled, with 15 days to go to avoid Horford becoming a restricted free agent and one of the most attractive on the market. It’s a tricky subject for the Hawks, who have to simultaneously make sure they don’t lose Horford and not overpay anymore than they have to with a new CBA being, ahem, hashed out.
Horford’s worth the money though, is the thing. More so than Johnson, honestly, when you factor in production on both sides of the ball and age. Horford is a top notch defender, much better defending the post than you’d think for a guy his size, holding opponents to a 36.2 FG% according to Synergy Sports. In a league with so few legit centers, that’s an incredible job for a guy everyone thinks is undersized for the 5.
While Jamal Crawford is a vital scoring component, the Hawks are treating Horford as the priority, and that’s the right move. But time’s running out. Something’s going to have to get done in the next two weeks or Horford’s stay in Atlanta could be up in the air.