The Boston Celtics could reunite with former NBA champion Jrue Holiday, a starter on Boston’s 2024 title-winning team, in a blockbuster trade pitch published Friday, but one that would come at a significant cost. The proposed three-team deal would bring Holiday back to Boston while sending Derrick White out of town, forcing the Celtics to weigh a reunion with a familiar championship contributor against losing one of their most important backcourt players.
In the three-team trade scenario, the Boston Celtics reunite with Jrue Holiday and add Orlando Magic guard Anthony Black while Derrick White heads to Orlando and three-point specialist Sam Hauser goes to the Portland Trail Blazers, who also get Jalen Suggs from the Magic.
Built on the roster construction site FanSpo, the deal returns an old friend to Boston, then charges the Celtics White, Hauser and a projected eight wins.
Holiday, 36, a Chatsworth, California, native, went 17th overall to the Philadelphia 76ers in 2009 after one season at UCLA, and he owns two championships (Milwaukee in 2021, Boston in 2024), two All-Star selections and six All-Defensive nods. He averaged 16.3 points and 6.1 assists in 53 games for Portland last season.
White, 32, grew up in Parker, Colorado, and went 29th overall to the San Antonio Spurs in 2017 out of Colorado, after starting at Colorado-Colorado Springs. He won the 2024 title and made the All-Defensive First Team this past season. His 77 games produced 16.5 points and 5.4 assists — on a career-low 39.4 percent shooting.
Black, 22, played one season at Arkansas before Orlando took him sixth overall in 2023. The 6-foot-7 guard jumped from 9.4 points a game to 15.0 last season, adding 3.7 assists and 1.4 steals in 64 games and 29.8 minutes a night.
Suggs, 25, a St. Paul, Minnesota, native, went fifth overall to Orlando in 2021 out of Gonzaga and averaged 13.8 points and 5.5 assists in 57 games. Hauser, 28, went undrafted out of Marquette and Virginia, won a title with Boston and shot 39.3 percent from three-point range.
Boston Celtics’ Jrue Holiday Reunion and Anthony Black Addition
Does Boston win this one? FanSpo‘s projections say no. The Celtics are the only one of the three clubs to lose ground, even as payroll climbs $3.7 million and stays above the tax line, hard-capped at the first apron.
The trade swaps White ($30.3 million) and Hauser ($10.8 million) for Holiday ($34.8 million) and Black ($10.1 million), according to Spotrac. Holiday also holds a $37.2 million player option for 2027-28, according to FanSpo‘s Holiday contract data.
Holiday is four years older than White and played 24 fewer games last season (53 to 77). Black costs $20.2 million less than White and scored 1.5 fewer points a game. He also becomes a restricted free agent after 2026-27, which gives Boston the right to match any offer.
Derrick White Trade Shifts Orlando Magic, Portland Trail Blazers Payrolls
Orlando posts the biggest payroll cut. The Magic shed $12.1 million and gain a projected three wins by sending Black and Jalen Suggs, who earns $32.4 million on a five-year, $150.5 million extension, for White, according to Spotrac.
Portland adds $8.4 million and a projected four wins. The Trail Blazers move Holiday for Suggs and Hauser, who signed a four-year, $45 million extension, per Spotrac‘s Hauser data.
So Boston gets its reunion and a younger guard. Orlando and Portland get the projected wins.
Who says no?
Celtics Trade Pitch Lands Jrue Holiday Reunion, Ships Out Derrick White