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Jrue Holiday will have one year left with the Boston Celtics when the 2023-24 season ends, and that is a player option for $37.4 million. Considering the assets that they gave up to acquire Holiday, it’s probably in their best interest to keep him for longer than potentially one season.
The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach revealed how both the Celtics and Holiday’s camp feel about a possible contract extension while talking with Adam Himmelsbach and Evan Valenti on CLNS Media’s “Celtics Beat.”
“It seems, talking to people on both sides, that it’s very much the plan,” Himmelsbach said on October 7. “He has to wait six months to sign an extension, so I think April 2 is the exact day he would be eligible for one, but I would suspect them to figure something out. This isn’t a Jrue Holiday rental.”
Holiday is 33 years old and will turn 34 in June of 2024. While Holiday is not necessarily old for an NBA player, he is getting older. However, he is coming off his second all-star campaign and will be fourth in the Celtics’ pecking order behind Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis, so giving him a long-term deal wouldn’t necessarily be a terrible idea.
It would all depend on how long a deal he and the Celtics would agree to.
Jayson Tatum ‘Extremely Happy’ to Have Jrue Holiday
Though this is the first time they will have played together as teammates in the NBA, Tatum and Holiday played together on Team USA in 2021. Tatum referenced that when discussing with Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes how happy he is to have Holiday on the team.
“I’m extremely happy to have him,” Tatum told Haynes in an October 5 story. “Jrue’s one of the most well-respected guys in this league. He’s a champion. We won a gold medal together two summers ago. So, I know him pretty well and know he is a hell of a player, a hell of a teammate.
“I told him we’re lucky to have him, and we’re going to try to get it done.”
Holiday won’t have as big of a role with the Celtics as he did with the Milwaukee Bucks, but he may thrive with less of a burden on his shoulders. They won’t depend on him to be as much of a scorer but more as a playmaker and defender.
Jaylen Brown Praises Jrue Holiday for Not Backing Down
During Holiday’s introductory press conference on October 4, Celtics Owner Steve Pagliuca voiced his excitement over getting Holiday because of how he stopped Jaylen Brown in his tracks on a fastbreak. Brown himself gave more details about that specific instance while talking with reporters on October 7.
“I wanted to go after him a little bit,” Brown said, per MassLive’s Brian Robb. “Fresh, new to the city. Welcome him to the team. So it’s the best way to do it. He met the challenge. He don’t look like a guy that’s going to back down from any challenges. So he did in that case, so we’ve just been going at it during training camp.”
Thus far, it appears Holiday is living up to expectations with the Celtics. It’s no surprise what he’s shown on the defensive end since he’s made the NBA’s All-Defense teams five times. Now the Celtics will get to see how he does in a smaller role.
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