Al Horford

GSW · 2025-26First apron
Contract
$11.0M / yr · 1 yr · $11.0M left
Albatross riskunder these assumptionsContested · spans 2 tiers

Albatross risk — −$7.4M on $11.0M still owed

Investment Memo

Al Horford projects to 2.6 marginal wins — $9.1M of on-court value — against an apron-adjusted true cost of $16.5M.

Albatross riskunder these assumptions
AASV (surplus)−$7.4M
Production value$9.1M
True cost$16.5M
Surplus vs. cost−45%
Rank, tracked deals105th of 178

Albatross risk — −$7.4M on $11.0M still owed

Monitor

The verdict swings from −$13.9M (bear) to +$0.0M (bull) — too assumption-sensitive to move on; let another season of data settle the call.

The Memo
Value thesis

For $11.0M this season (1 yr, $11.0M total), you are buying 2.6 marginal wins of EPM production — $9.1M of value at $3.5M/win. Against an apron-adjusted true cost of $16.5M, that nets −$7.4M of surplus, 105th of 178 tracked contracts — it grades as an albatross.

Upside case / Downside case
Upside case

If wins price up toward $4.2M/win and the apron tax eases, production value climbs to $13.8M and surplus swings to +$0.0M — fair value in the optimistic case.

Downside case

If a marginal win is worth less and the apron bites harder, true cost rises to $19.3M and surplus falls to −$13.9M — an albatross in the pessimistic case; the verdict flips across the band.

Risk factors
Aging / decline (proxy)Moderate$11.0M committed over 1 year with no multi-season impact trend on file. No ages in the data — this is an exposure proxy.
Commitment sizeLow$11.0M still owed across 1 year — $11.0M on this season's books.
Apron exposureElevatedFirst-apron tax lifts the true cost to $16.5M (+$5.5M over cap).
Assumption sensitivity
Al Horford — AASV under bear / base / bull assumptions−$13.9M+$0.0M
Bear−$13.9M
Base−$7.4M
Bull+$0.0M

Caution — the verdict flips somewhere across bear/base/bull assumptions. This call is assumption-sensitive, not settled.

This call changes under bear assumptions: Al Horford grades Albatross risk in the bear case but Fairly pricedin the bull case — treat the verdict above as a live read of today’s sliders, not a settled fact.

What the other desks say
The Consensus

The market's own numbers: a win costs what the middle of the league pays for it.

Albatross risk
The Accountant

Every apron dollar is real money — the tax ledger, not the highlight reel, decides who wins the summer.

Albatross risk
The Ring Chaser

Banners hang forever. A marginal win today is worth almost any tomorrow, and the tax is the cost of doing business.

Fairly priced
The Rebuilder

Wins you buy before you're ready are the most expensive wins in basketball — flexibility is the only asset that never ages.

Albatross risk
The Skeptic

The tenth man is closer to the star than the star's agent admits — pay for scarcity you can prove, not reputation.

Albatross risk

1 of 5 desks disagree with the verdict above — that disagreement is the story.

Take the question to the docket →
Comparable contracts

Similar money band ($10.8M vs $11.0M) and impact (-0.1 vs -0.1); his deal grades albatross risk at −$12.5M.

−$12.5M

Similar money band ($11.4M vs $11.0M) and impact (-0.1 vs -0.1); his deal grades albatross risk at −$13.7M.

−$13.7M

Similar money band ($11.5M vs $11.0M) and impact (-0.1 vs -0.1); his deal grades paying a premium at −$2.4M.

−$2.4M
The Model

How the model gets there.

The audit trail behind every figure in the memo above — six steps from raw on-court impact to the final surplus verdict, using the same sliders. Drag any assumption and the memo above updates with it.

Model Assumptions

AASV = wins × $/win − cap hit × apron multiplier. Set the knobs to your own front-office judgment — every number on this page updates live.

$3.5M
What one marginal win costs on the open market.
1.50×
How much a first-apron team's dollar really costs (tax bill, shrinking roster tools).
2.00×
The punitive tier — frozen picks, no salary aggregation, repeater tax.
Step 1 · On-court impact

League estimated net rating (per 100 poss. vs. an average player), cached from stats.nba.com (seed snapshot).

Est. Impact = -0.1 · 2025-26 · 70 games · 2,000 minutes

Step 2 · Impact → marginal wins

Impact is credited above replacement level (-2.0), scaled by the possessions he actually played (minutes × 2.08/min), then converted at 30.5 net points per win.

(-0.1 − (-2.0)) × 4,167 poss ÷ 100 = 79 net pts
79 ÷ 30.5 = 2.6 wins

Step 3 · Wins → production value

Wins are priced at your $/win setting ($3.5M per win).

2.6 wins × $3.5M = $9.1M

Step 4 · What the contract truly costs
First apron

GSW is a first apron team, so every Al Horford dollar is charged at 1.50× — your setting for what that tier’s tax and roster restrictions really cost. Contract: 1 yr · $11.0M remaining.

$11.0M cap hit × 1.50 = $16.5M

Step 5 · Apron-Adjusted Surplus Value

$9.1M$16.5M = −$7.4M

Al Horford costs more than he produces under these assumptions — the contract eats value.

Step 6 · Season-over-season impact

First season on file — the trend view, and its tie-in to aging risk, unlocks once another season lands.