Celtics owner says Al Horford will return for his 18th NBA season

After winning his first NBA title at 38 years old, Al Horford plans to return to the Boston Celtics next season, Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck said Tuesday.

“Al is coming back for next year. That’s what I’ve been told. Age 38, which is unbelievable,” Grousbeck said on the “The Greg Hill Show” following the Celtics’ championship-clinching Game 5 win Monday over the Dallas Mavericks.

“We’ve got some guys who are getting up there a little bit, but basically we’re a young team,” Grousbeck said. “Most of our players are 30 or younger and that is bad news for everybody else, hopefully.”

Horford would return for his 18th season in the league and seventh with the Celtics, which achieved a record 18th NBA championship with Monday’s victory.

“Ironically, we won in ’08 over Al’s team,” Grousbeck said. “The Hawks took us to seven in the first round. So, we were part of his drought, and now he came home to us. He loves it here. He and his family love it here. He couldn’t be happier. We are also happy.”

Horford, who also made stops with the Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers and the Oklahoma City Thunder in his career, averaged 9.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists in the latest postseason. He started starting 15 of 19 playoff games with Kristaps Porziņģis missing time due to injuries in the playoffs.

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“My whole thing has always been this: as long as I feel good physically,” Horford said in February about how much longer he hopes to play. “I don’t want to feel limited. I don’t want to be not myself out there.

“So, I don’t want to put a limit on it. And that’s the one thing that I saw from Tom (Brady), one of the things I took from him that I thought was great. Just listening to interviews with him and things like that, he never put a limit on when he was going to play, and I don’t want to limit myself with that.”