Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said it’s “highly unlikely” that the 39-year-old center will return to Boston when asked at a Tuesday press conference.

Horford, who has played seven of his 18 NBA seasons in Boston over two different stints, is coming off a 2024-25 season that where he averaged 9.0 points and 6.2 rebounds per night, while shooting 42.3 percent (36.3 percent from deep), in 60 games for the Celtics.

If Horford does decide to play, the Golden State Warriors are the favorites to land him, according to long-time NBA insider Marc Stein. The Los Angeles Lakers were also in the running for Horford, but signing centers Deandre Ayton and Jaxson Hayes earlier this summer likely takes them out of the running.

The Boston Celtics are still awaiting an answer from Al Horford regarding his future, both with the Celtics and in the NBA. There have been rumors suggesting that Horford could decide to hang them up, which would be somewhat surprising considering he still showed a year ago to be a very serviceable player who can help a contender.

Al Horford is set to enter his 19th season in the NBA next season. For the last four seasons, he has been playing for the Boston Celtics, where he has achieved great success, including winning the NBA Championship in 2024,

The Denver Nuggets have had a pretty impressive offseason. Since it began, Denver has acquired Cameron Johnson for Michael Porter Jr., brought back Bruce Brown, and signed Tim Hardaway Jr. They also traded Dario Saric for Jonas Valanciunas, but there's been a problem.

The Celtics have lost several key players from their 2024 championship core this offseason. Al Horford was expected to join the list of players who were traded/signed elsewhere, but recently was predicted to possibly return to Boston, after it seemed unlikely for weeks.