Getty Celtics star Jrue Holiday (left) is eligible for a contract extension.
Statistically, Jrue Holiday is having his least-productive season here in his first year with the Boston Celtics. He’s averaging 12.6 points, a number that has not been so low since he was a rookie. He will be 34 soon, but anyone who was watched the Celtics this year knows he is not slowing down, not at all.
Holiday has been incredibly efficient since being traded to Boston, shooting 47.9% from the field and 43.3% from the 3-point line on the year. He’s averaged 5.5 rebounds (a career high) and 4.9 assists, and has shown a remarkable ability to give the Celtics just what they need at a given moment.
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are the Celtics stars. Kristaps Porzingis is the best third option going. Holiday has willingly helped Derrick White to shine. He has had to sacrifice to make all that happen, and he is a major factor in the team sitting with 60 wins and easily holding the No. 1 seed in the NBA this year.
The one issue, though: What do you pay a guy like Holiday, given his advanced age and reduced production? That’s what the Celtics are trying to determine now. Turns out, it might not be all that much less than what he’s getting already.
Celtics Should See How Playoffs Go
That’s according to NBA executives who were tasked with the challenge of projecting what Holiday’s deal might look like. It’s not easy because Holiday is in a unique situation, and though Holiday and his people are able to start talking with the Celtics now about a contract, there still might be some hesitancy to go too far down the new-contract path here in the short term.
“I think you need to see how things look in the playoffs,” one Eastern Conference GM told Heavy Sports. “It’s risky because if they roll through to the Finals and win that easily, you’re under pressure to give him a big contract. But at the same time, you give Jrue Holiday a big deal now, and they flame out in the playoffs, lose in the second round, then where are you?”
The consensus is, of course, that Holiday won’t get the max value he could get, which would be a deal starting at $51 million. He won’t get the max number of years, either, not at his age.
“The team is going to try for two years, he is going to want four,” the GM said. “Maybe there’s middle ground, three with a mutual option. But that is going to be a big point of contention.”
Jrue Holiday Seeking $100 Million?
As for money, Holiday is expected to opt out of the last year of his current deal, which pays him $39 million. He is very unlikely to match that number on a per-year basis, but the feeling is, he could get close.
The Celtics must juggle some major incoming bills, with Jayson Tatum due a mega-extension that will kick in two years from now and Derrick White due a new deal, too. They will be a second-apron team—and will have the penalties that come with that—unless they decide to tear up the roster.
“I think you get Holiday back at three years and $90 million,” a Western Conference executive said. “The one thing that they have going for them is there is not going to be a huge free-agent market for Holiday out there. So, they’re probably negotiating mostly against themselves. Maybe the Sixers or Magic could get involved. But probably this is something that gets done just between Jrue and the Celtics.”
Even at that, expect a lot of zeroes.
“I think he is going to want $100 million, you have to pay for what you’re getting,” the East GM said. “He’s giving you all this leadership, the defense, all these little things that make you win. The tax bills are going to hurt. But that could be where this all winds up.”