What the Warriors are hoping Horford gives them

When the Golden State Warriors picked up Al Horford, they must have remembered Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals. That night, in front of a stunned Chase Center crowd, Horford dropped 26 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists on their heads.

During that entire playoff run, he averaged 12 points, 9.3 rebounds, and shot 48% from three. That’s what a championship-caliber role player looks like.

Fast forward to the 2025 playoffs: 8 points, 6 rebounds, shooting 47% from the field and 40% from three. Still efficient. Still making winning plays. But here’s the question: what are the Warriors actually getting at 39 years old? And will it be better than what they were expecting from Kevon Looney?

Looney had a decade of loyalty, three championships, perhaps the most dependable big man in recent Warriors history…and yet got reduced to 9.3 minutes per game in the playoffs against Houston. Two minutes in a crucial Game 6. When he left for New Orleans, he was brutally honest about it.

“When you prove yourself the first four, five years, all right, cool. But after 10 years of it, it’s like, all right. You either trust me or you don’t,” Looney told Marcus Thompson II. When Steve Kerr turned to rookie Quinten Post over a proven championship center in the playoffs, the organization was signaling they needed something different. Enter Al Horford: the opposite approach to solving the same problem.

The surface-level analysis writes itself: stretch-five who can shoot, defend multiple positions, high basketball IQ, championship pedigree. But that misses what makes this genuinely important.

Horford averaged 9 points and 6.2 rebounds on 42/36/90 shooting splits last season. Not exactly eye-popping. But Brad Stevens said something that matters more: “If you take all of the joy each one of us experienced winning [the championship] last year, I think all of us would say a piece of that joy—if not a large portion of it—was for Al.”

Jayson Tatum called him “one of the best teammates I’ve ever had at any level.” Luke Kornet went further: “Honestly, the best one I’ve ever seen.” For a Warriors team that just watched their core fracture with Looney gone and Kuminga’s contract standoff creating tension, Horford’s veteran stability might be the most underrated part of this move.

Thirty-nine years old. Nineteenth NBA season. Those aren’t just numbers, some might say flashing warning signs. But Horford’s game has never relied on athleticism. He’s playing 27.7 minutes per game, making the right reads, hitting open threes, protecting the rim when it matters. His 2025 playoff efficiency suggests the shooting touch isn’t going anywhere.

Draymond Green revealed the strategic thinking: “When you’re at center, you’re involved in every single play because you’re anchoring the defense… That can be a lot at times.” Horford takes that burden off Green and gives Steve Kerr lineup flexibility that didn’t exist when Looney was getting benched.

Is he actually an upgrade over Looney? You’re comparing different stages of organizational philosophy. Looney in his prime was exactly what those Warriors needed as far as being reliable, durable, and understanding the system perfectly. But last season’s version, averaging 5.7 points and 5.7 rebounds while watching his role evaporate, wasn’t the Looney experience we were accustomed to.

Horford brings something Looney couldn’t: spacing. He’s a legitimate 36% three-point shooter who commands defensive attention beyond the arc. That matters when you’re creating driving lanes for whoever becomes the secondary scoring option behind Steph Curry.

Al Horford isn’t the savior. But he’s solving specific problems that the Warriors need support with: interior presence, floor spacing, veteran leadership.

If Horford stays healthy, shoots 38% from three, and gives Golden State 24 minutes of smart, winning basketball per night, this move will look brilliant by April. If his body breaks down or the Warriors can’t compete anyway, it’ll be remembered as a desperate veteran team trying to squeeze one more year from the Steph Curry era.

There’s no middle ground here. Either this works and the Warriors are back in the title conversation, or it doesn’t and we’re watching the final chapter of a dynasty wind down in real time.

Horford’s departure from Boston tells you everything about his priorities. When Jayson Tatum went down with an Achilles injury, he saw his championship window slam shut. He didn’t retire. He went to Golden State because he believes that at 39 playing alongside Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green gives him another legitimate shot at a ring.

That belief might be the most important thing he brings.