A four-team trade pitch highlighted by the Boston Celtics bringing back two fan-favorite players sends Paul George to the Portland Trail Blazers two months after Boston acquired him, while Jrue Holiday and Robert Williams III return to the Celtics.
The concept, created on FanSpo‘s trade builder page, flags the swap as a cap-legal fit. The proposed trade also brings in the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls in a Jalen Duren sign-and-trade bolted onto Boston’s half to balance the money.
Boston Celtics Trade Paul George to Reunite With Jrue Holiday
Boston sends out George’s $54.1 million salary along with Sam Hauser’s $10.8 million, taking back Holiday’s $34.8 million and Williams III through a $14 million traded player exception, plus five future second-round picks. That trims roughly $16.1 million off Boston’s cap sheet, welcome salary relief for a team already hard-capped at the first apron after this July’s George acquisition.
George, a nine-time All-Star and 2016 Olympic gold medalist, waived a $3.9 million trade bonus to make that July deal work, according to a Boston.com report.
Holiday, 36, a one-and-done at UCLA before Philadelphia drafted him 17th overall in 2009, is a two-time champion who averaged 16.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 6.1 assists for the Trail Blazers last season, with two years left on his contract, according to ClutchPoints‘ salary database.
Holiday was a key starter on the Celtics’ 2024 championship team.
Williams III, a 2018 Celtics first-rounder out of Texas A&M nicknamed “Time Lord,” re-signed with Portland on a three-year, $44 million deal with games-played protections, according to a Blazer’s Edge report.
Swapping George for that pair would restore the switch-everything, rim-running defense Boston coach Joe Mazzulla employed in the team’s 2024 title run, at the cost of a three-point specialist and floor-spacer in Hauser. Portland’s side barely moves the cap sheet, but George’s scoring gives Shaedon Sharpe and Deni Avdija a more established second option than the two vets already on the roster.
Jalen Duren Sign-and-Trade Powers the Rest of the Deal
Duren, 22, a Memphis one-and-done taken 13th overall in 2022 before his rights were flipped to Detroit, made his first All-Star team and All-NBA third team last season averaging 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds on 65% shooting, according to NBA.com stats. Chicago would send Josh Giddey to Detroit and absorb Duren on a four-year, $160 million sign-and-trade, but that arrangement puts the Bulls roughly $12 million over the allowable incoming salary limit, on top of surrendering three future first-round picks.
Giddey, a 2021 sixth overall pick now with Chicago, posted 17.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 9.1 assists before ankle surgery ended his season early, according to HoopsHype salary data.
Detroit would also land Hauser, an undrafted 2021 Virginia product who signed a four-year extension, and rookie center Yang Hansen, a 2025 first-rounder out of China whose 2025-2026 season was mostly spent in the G League, according to an OregonLive report.
None of it works if Detroit won’t play along, and Detroit has said all summer it won’t. The Pistons “are not interested whatsoever in any sign-and-trade scenarios,” ClutchPoints‘ Brett Siegel reported. That stance hasn’t moved since free agency opened, leaving Boston’s half of this simulated blockbuster trade as the only piece worth debating.
Celtics Trade Pitch Reunites Jrue Holiday, Robert Williams in Paul George Deal