Sources: Boston, Washington falling back on Al Horford, with Hawks strengthening in belief that a deal can be reached to re-sign him.

But the Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Saturday evening that the Celtics, as well as the Washington Wizards, are “falling back” in the running to land Horford, who is likely to make his decision Saturday.

The Celtics met with free agent center Al Horford on Friday night, according to multiple league sources, and a league source who was familiar with the gathering said the meeting went very well, and that the belief is that Boston has a “good chance” of signing the four-time All-Star.

Boston and Washington have rapidly lost hope of Al Horford leaving the Hawks, league sources tell @TheVertical. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 2, 2016

According to sources, the Celtics’ delegation included team executives as well as Celtics All-Star Isaiah Thomas and forward Jae Crowder.


On Friday, former Celtics guard Evan Turner told the Globe that in recent conversations, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge “seemed confident” about signing Horford.

The Vertical reported late Friday night that Horford met with four teams on Friday, including the Wizards and the Rockets,.

When the Atlanta Hawks agreed to a reported three-year, $70.5 million contract with Dwight Howard and a four-year, $70 million deal with free agent swingman Kent Bazemore on Friday, it seemed that Horford would no longer be in Atlanta’s plans. But ESPN reported that the team was involved in trade talks to free up extra salary cap space if an agreement could be reached with Horford.

Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @adamhimmelsbach.