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The Oklahoma City Thunder will shut down Al Horford for the rest of the season, sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

The 34-year-old Horford will train with the team, but will no longer be active in games.

The team will instead focus on playing their younger players.

Sam Presti will work with Horford on a trade over this offseason.

Horford has two years and $53 million left on his deal. 

Via Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN

Why didn't they trade him at the deadline then?

Okc should buy him out, The nets could use another all star at one point in their career Power Forward at the end of the bench.

Blatant tanking. Is Adam Silver going to allow this?

same thing as players doing the buyout crap

Jabroni Lames wrote:Blatant tanking. Is Adam Silver going to allow this?

WaltFrazier wrote:Why didn't they trade him at the deadline then?

Because he's owed 56 million dollars in the next 2 seasons and no one is trading for that contract. Not to mention they would probably have to take multiple bad contracts and that would just take away roster spots from younger players.

Theo Ratliff wrote:

WaltFrazier wrote:Why didn't they trade him at the deadline then?

Because he's owed 56 million dollars in the next 2 seasons and no one is trading for that contract. Not to mention they would probably have to take multiple bad contracts and that would just take away roster spots from younger players.

Is contract is more manageable after this year. It’s not 56 million. 4th year is 12 million guarantee only. So he’s got around 28 plus 12. AL can still play.

So pay Al essentially 2 years 40 million or pay Kyle Lowry 2/50. Both will be 35 years old by next season. Who would you rather have.

Jabroni Lames wrote:Blatant tanking. Is Adam Silver going to allow this?

He will punish them by moving them down in lotto and ending up with 8th pick taking knicks place in lotto bad luck.

lonea wrote:same thing as players doing the buyout crap

Jabroni Lames wrote:Blatant tanking. Is Adam Silver going to allow this?

Both of y'all are wrong. OKC has been focused on developing players for years now. The future is now. Serviceable veterans will maintain more trade value if they remain healthy and out of games with nice stat averages, while younger players will contribute to winning in future years if they play more right now. A team like the Warriors may have a bit of a conundrum as to developing players and having more certainty towards winning. But OKC is in rebuilding mode, and they keep winning tons of games anyway. Maybe Silver should be contacted about all the blatant whining....hmmm. Nah it's fun shooting you guys down with logic. Carry on.

There goes the Thunder's season....even more...there goes their championship aspirations.

Curious what does Al himself think about this. I bet he'd like to play.

If he gets traded its probably for an even worse contract + picks.

kuclas wrote:

Theo Ratliff wrote:

WaltFrazier wrote:Why didn't they trade him at the deadline then?

Because he's owed 56 million dollars in the next 2 seasons and no one is trading for that contract. Not to mention they would probably have to take multiple bad contracts and that would just take away roster spots from younger players.

Is contract is more manageable after this year. It’s not 56 million. 4th year is 12 million guarantee only. So he’s got around 28 plus 12. AL can still play.

So pay Al essentially 2 years 40 million or pay Kyle Lowry 2/50. Both will be 35 years old by next season. Who would you rather have.

''

Al's deal is 42 mil over two years if you cut him after the first year, if he is on your team it is 26.5 for the 2nd year. or almost 53 mil. Lowry does not have a contract next year, he will be paid whatever his new team thinks he is worth, not what he thinks he is worth.

WaltFrazier wrote:Why didn't they trade him at the deadline then?

Because there are no picks available to trade him for, OKC owns all picks in the next few seasons.

Instead of trotting out the corpse of al horford they want to develop their newfound beast Moses brown. Makes sense to me

I think this tactic finally blew up in Presti's face. Noone is trading for aging bigs on huge contracts which is why we've seen all the recent buyouts with Griffin, etc. They were able to revive Paul's trade value but it's not going to happen with Horford. At least Presti can sleep at night knowing he owns half the picks in the league and can now tank the rest of this season for a better lottery pick. This league is getting ridiculous at this point.

It’s OKC and it’s Al Horford. You change it to a bigger city and a marquee name, then Silver may say “wait a minute.”

And you can call it “development,” but it’s tanking. SGA is out, and you have an abundance of young players, so it’s time to take stock and focus on draft positioning.

mg wrote:I think this tactic finally blew up in Presti's face. Noone is trading for aging bigs on huge contracts which is why we've seen all the recent buyouts with Griffin, etc. They were able to revive Paul's trade value but it's not going to happen with Horford. At least Presti can sleep at night knowing he owns half the picks in the league and can now tank the rest of this season for a better lottery pick. This league is getting ridiculous at this point.

Blew up in his face? OKC received last years #34 pick and a 2025 1st to take on Horford. They've already won. They didn't bring him in to play. As far as his salary is concerned... they have to pay someone.

Pickled Prunes wrote:

mg wrote:I think this tactic finally blew up in Presti's face. Noone is trading for aging bigs on huge contracts which is why we've seen all the recent buyouts with Griffin, etc. They were able to revive Paul's trade value but it's not going to happen with Horford. At least Presti can sleep at night knowing he owns half the picks in the league and can now tank the rest of this season for a better lottery pick. This league is getting ridiculous at this point.

Blew up in his face? OKC received last years #34 pick and a 2025 1st to take on Horford. They've already won. They didn't bring him in to play. As far as his salary is concerned... they have to pay someone.

Hmmm. There is a huge opportunity cost you are not accounting for. To take on that many years and that high a contract for those draft assets is a weak return.

Risk Addict wrote:

Pickled Prunes wrote:

mg wrote:I think this tactic finally blew up in Presti's face. Noone is trading for aging bigs on huge contracts which is why we've seen all the recent buyouts with Griffin, etc. They were able to revive Paul's trade value but it's not going to happen with Horford. At least Presti can sleep at night knowing he owns half the picks in the league and can now tank the rest of this season for a better lottery pick. This league is getting ridiculous at this point.

Blew up in his face? OKC received last years #34 pick and a 2025 1st to take on Horford. They've already won. They didn't bring him in to play. As far as his salary is concerned... they have to pay someone.

Hmmm. There is a huge opportunity cost you are not accounting for. To take on that many years and that high a contract for those draft assets is a weak return.

There's no opportunity cost. OKC still have over $60M in cap space the next two years. If magically somehow Giannis and his best friend decide they want to force their way to Oklahoma they can do it.

Risk Addict wrote:

Pickled Prunes wrote:

mg wrote:I think this tactic finally blew up in Presti's face. Noone is trading for aging bigs on huge contracts which is why we've seen all the recent buyouts with Griffin, etc. They were able to revive Paul's trade value but it's not going to happen with Horford. At least Presti can sleep at night knowing he owns half the picks in the league and can now tank the rest of this season for a better lottery pick. This league is getting ridiculous at this point.

Blew up in his face? OKC received last years #34 pick and a 2025 1st to take on Horford. They've already won. They didn't bring him in to play. As far as his salary is concerned... they have to pay someone.

Hmmm. There is a huge opportunity cost you are not accounting for. To take on that many years and that high a contract for those draft assets is a weak return.

OKC has the lowest payroll in the NBA and will be using mostly rookie scale players for the next few years. They need his contract just to get to the salary floor. His salary is of no concern to them.