Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens spoke about the departures of Al Horford and Luke Kornet on Monday morning at Media Day. He revealed that the Celtics offered both of them contracts and the chance to stay in town, but ultimately, those deals didn’t pan out.
“We offered both Al and Luke the opportunity to stay, but I think you can see where our contracts were with who we signed that we were going to be handcuffed around the apron a little bit,” Stevens said. “And I think that is part of the—We knew that there were going to have to be big moves, and then in addition to that, Luke played his way into a great opportunity and great contract, and we couldn't be more thrilled for him… Then now, same thing, we gave Al an offer, but there wasn't any expectation that he wouldn't take a bigger offer elsewhere and go play, because that's his right.