The Oklahoma City Thunder announced on Saturday that center Al Horford would not be active for the remainder of the season.
Horford has played in four of the eight games since the All-Star break and just two of the last six. The team had planned to shut him down at some point, but with the injury to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City elected to do so earlier, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported and head coach Mark Daigneault later confirmed.
Shortly after the news broke that Horford would be benched for the team to create more time for younger players to get on the court, general manager Sam Presti and the veteran center released statements.
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Here are both statements in full:
