Al Horford says he'll wait until end of season to discuss new deal with Hawks

The last thing on Al Horford's mind right now is his contract situation with the Atlanta Hawks.

The three-time NBA All-Star is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of next season, as the five-year, $60-million rookie-scale extension he signed in 2010 comes off the books. Nonetheless, all the 29-year-old is concerned with is his immediate future in aiding the Hawks on their journey to a deep and prosperous postseason run in 2015-16.

“My focus right now is to get better individually and help our team be the best team that we can be,” Horford told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Chris Vivlamore on Tuesday. “I have the same mindset and that is to help our team win and put us in a good position and try to be better.

"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.”

A large pay day could await Horford, with the NBA's salary cap estimated to reach upward of $70 million next summer, $89 million in 2016-17, and possibly more than $100 million the season after that.

As one of the bigger names on the open market next summer, he should have no shortage of suitors pursuing him as more and more teams get the cap room to make an offer.

Drafted with the third overall pick by Atlanta in the 2007 NBA Draft, Horford has since averaged 14.2 points and 9.2 rebounds on 54.1 percent shooting in 496 career outings.

As Vivlamore points out, a few of Horford's teammates (both past and present) were recently able to secure large contracts for themselves, with Paul Millsap getting $59 million over three years from Atlanta, and DeMarre Carroll headed north of the border to join the Toronto Raptors for $60 million over four years.