This upcoming off-season for the Atlanta Hawks will revolve around the status of Al Horford. I have previously detailed what his maximum contract would look like and how Atlanta can navigate the off-season both with and without Al. For those veteran Atlanta Hawks fans, the decision of offering Al a 5-year maximum salaried contract may appear to be similar to the decision faced in the 2010 off-season with Joe Johnson.
It's true that Al and Joe have parallels. Al enters this off-season as a 9 year veteran, with Bird Rights, the ability to sign a contract through age 34, and uncertainty surrounding the upcoming CBA, which will be renegotiated in 2017.