Retaining frontcourt free agents among Celtics offseason ‘priorities’

Now back under the second apron and the NBA Draft almost in the books (the second and final round will wrap up Thursday night) the Boston Celtics' next major event on the NBA offseason calendar is free agency. The team has just a few days to work out deals with its own pending free agents before league-wide free agency begins on this upcoming Monday at 6 p.m. ET.

Of the team's three pending unrestricted free agents, who were to of the Celtics' top frontcourt players last year in Al Horford and Luke Kornet. Despite the team still right up against that second apron number, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens listed retaining both players as part of the team's priorities for the next step of the offseason.

"There's no question our priorities would be to bring Al and Luke I mean, those guys are huge parts of this organization," Stevens told reporters Thursday night during his post-NBA Draft press conference, after mentioning the need for the team to retain flexibility. "They're going to have, I'm sure, plenty of options all over the place, and that's well deserved. But I think that that would be a priority."

Horford, who turned 39 at the beginning of this month, played in 60 games for the Celtics with 42 starts. His playing time was actually slightly up from last year as he averaged 27.7 minutes per game while contributing 9.0 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest as he shot 42.3% from the floor and 36.3% from three.

The Celtics may face competition to bring Horford back. Between that ability to still produce at his age and his significant experience, Horford could be a popular option among teams looking to add a veteran presence who can still contribute on the floor. Earlier this week ESPN's Shams Charania reported that Horford "has a pretty robust free agency market outside of Boston."

Kornet, who turns 30 next month, played in a career-high 73 games this season and averaged a career-high 18.6 minutes per game scoring 6.0 points with 5.3 rebounds per game. Kornet re-signed with the Celtics on a one-year deal last offseason, just before the league-wide free agency window opened.

Figuring out the center position one way or another will be important for the Celtics over the next week. The team already traded away Kristaps Porzingis, who was their most-used center last year. Horford and Kornet were second and third on that list, with Neemias Queta being the only center currently under contract with the team after playing 13.9 minutes per game last year.

That lack of depth at the position led some to believe the Celtics would target a center in the first round of the NBA Draft on Wednesday night, but instead they took wing player Hugo Gonzalez. They still have one more pick - 32nd overall, second in the second round, but if they don't take a center there it will put even more of a spotlight on the position and the next steps with Horford and Kornet.