{"id":113359,"date":"2024-12-20T11:12:08","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T16:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=113359"},"modified":"2024-12-20T11:12:24","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T16:12:24","slug":"boston-celtics-al-horford-shocking-factor-extended-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/20\/boston-celtics-al-horford-shocking-factor-extended-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Al Horford Reveals Shocking Factor That Extended His Career"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now in his 18th season in the NBA, many have wondered when Boston Celtics<\/a> big man Al Horford<\/a> will officially call it a career. There have been multiple times across his season where fans thought he was approaching the end. Whether it was his DNP-riddled stint with the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> or his championship victory in Boston last season, there were a few times when Horford realistically could have announced his retirement. However, the 38-year-old is still going strong.<\/p>\n

Recently, Horford revealed one surprising factor that helped him extend his career. The Florida alum acknowledged the modern NBA and his development as a perimeter-centric player as a major reason he is still playing today. He also named Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> center Brook Lopez<\/a> as another player who benefited from this change.<\/p>\n

When asked Wednesday afternoon if the 3-point shot has impacted his own longevity, the 18-year veteran answered without hesitation: \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that for me, physically, it has added years to my career,\u201d he added<\/a>. \u201cIt’s been good for me, and I think Brook saw it as well, and it’s been a great benefit. And now, guys are coming in from college, and they’re already shooting it, and they’re confident, [coaches are] giving them the green light, and it’s a good thing.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Throughout his first eight seasons with the Atlanta Hawks<\/a>, Horford was not a three-point shooter, attempting just 78 total field goals from behind the line in that time. Fast forward to today, and despite his age, Horford is a legitimate three-point threat.<\/p>\n

Al Horford Reveals Shocking Factor That Extended His Career<\/h2>\n

Retirement Was Not An Option for Al Horford After Boston Celtics Championship<\/h3>\n

The Celtics are the reigning NBA champions. In accomplishing this feat, most players on the team became first-time NBA champions. This includes Horford. Regardless of what many speculated, Horford had no plans on retiring last offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it was ever a question that I was going to not come back. I never put a limit on how long I\u2019m gonna play. I feel good and I\u2019m very fortunate to be in this position,” Horford said<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Horford is now in his seventh season in Boston and fourth since returning to Boston in 2021. Additionally, he is set to hit free agency next summer. At the moment, nothing is imminent regarding the future of Horford’s NBA career. However, it is fair to assume that the two sides will work on a new contract if Horford decides to come back for at least one more season. On top of being a valuable player on the court, he is just as valuable off of it.<\/p>\n

The Last Word<\/h3>\n

Horford’s development as a perimeter player has certainly benefitted his career. He was great during his time in Atlanta, but changing his playstyle allowed him to play for a significantly longer time. It is unknown when Horford plans to retire. But it is safe to say it will happen sooner rather than later. In the meantime, Horford will continue to make his presence felt in Boston in hopes of winning another championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now in his 18th season in the NBA, many have wondered when Boston Celtics big man Al Horford will officially call it a career. There have been multiple times across his season where fans thought he was approaching the end. Whether it was his DNP-riddled stint with the Oklahoma City Thunder or his championship victory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4631,"featured_media":95613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,5,2,62,3],"tags":[250],"class_list":["post-113359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-featured","category-nba","category-news","tag-al-horford"],"modified_by":"Elie Deglaoui","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113359"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113368,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113359\/revisions\/113368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}