Al Horford agrees to 2-year, $20 million extension with Celtics

Boston Celtics center Al Horford has agreed to a two-year, $20 million contract extension that ties him to the franchise through his 39th birthday in 2025, his agent Jason Glushon of Glushon Sports Management told ESPN Thursday morning.

Horford, a five-time All-Star, is completing the final season of a four-year, $109 million contract. Horford will make $26.5 million this season, and the new deal will begin in 2023-24.

The extension eliminates the possibility of a repeat of 2019, when Horford left the Celtics for a more lucrative free agency offer. Potential free agent centers available next summer include Indiana Myles TurnerChicago Nikola Vucevicfrom Milwaukee Brook LopezDallas’ Christian Wood and San Antonio Jakob Poeltl.

Horford has bounced back in his second stint with the Celtics, emerging as an integral part of a championship contender. At 36, he has remained a productive player and continues to command a great deal of respect in the Boston locker room and community.

Most recently, Horford was an All-Star and second-team All-Defensive selection in 2018.

Horford’s NBA Finals appearance a season ago ended the league’s longest playoff streak — 141 postseason games — without a conference championship, according to ESPN research Stats & Information.

Horford is averaging 10.9 points and 6.3 rebounds in 31 minutes per game this season, anchoring the Celtics’ top line in the absence of an injured starting center. Robert Williams III. Horford is shooting 55.5 percent from the floor and 48.8 percent on 3-pointers, the third-highest percentage among centers, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

Horford’s Game 1 performance against Golden State made him just the fourth player in the shot clock era to score 25 points on 75 percent shooting in a Finals debut, a list that included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

No player took more shots in the 2022 NBA playoffs — 437 — than Horford, according to Second Spectrum tracking. He is one of five players to take at least 400 snaps in a single postseason since player tracking began a decade ago.

Horford left Boston for Philadelphia on a four-year, $109 million free agent deal in 2019, then landed in Oklahoma City in a trade in 2020 before the Celtics re-acquired him in 2021.

Horford, the third overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft out of Florida, played his first nine NBA seasons with the Atlanta Hawks before leaving in free agency for Boston in 2016.

Horford played three years with the Celtics before stops with the 76ers and Thunder and his 2021 return to Boston.