Atlanta Hawks center Al Horford will not be talking about any contract deal for now as he wants to focus on helping the team win next season and once it is all finished, then he will start negotiating.
Horford told the Atlanta Journal Constitution, "As far as the contract stuff, I'm going to wait until the season is over. I'm not going to let that linger and be a distraction."
"The focus is to be on the Hawks, on our team and getting better. Once the season ends, we'll be able to sit down and talk and figure out all of that," he added.
The 2015–16 season marks the final season in Horford's current deal, which will earn him $12 million and will make him a restricted free agent on July 1, 2016.
But Horford is not looking for a new deal as of the moment; his main priority is trying to help the Hawks who finished last season as the no. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 60–22 record.
Atlanta surprised a lot of people in the 2014–15 season with their regular season run and reached the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Unfortunately, injuries and setbacks added to the tall task of facing the LeBron James-powered Cavs was too much for the Hawks as they were swept.
Now, with almost the same lineup as last season, the Hawks will try to repeat and do better; and one of their leaders is Horford who will be playing in his ninth season with Atlanta.
Last season, Horford played and started in 76 regular season games averaging 15.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.3 blocks per game.
During their playoff campaign, Horford averaged 14.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.4 blocks per outing in 16 games played.
The biggest additions for the Hawks this offseason are center Tiago Splitter and guard Tim Hardaway Jr., although they lost forward DeMarre Carroll via free agency as he signed with the Toronto Raptors.
