Getty Jrue Holiday of the Celtics
Jrue Holiday candidly spoke about how the Milwaukee Bucks handled trading him to the Portland Trailblazers for Damian Lillard this off-season, saying he wished the front office gave him more of a heads-up. The comments came while Holiday was a guest on The Draymond Green Show.
Draymond Green asked Holiday about how the process unfolded, to which Holiday responded “I’m taking a nap. I see a call from the GM and I’m like ‘I’ll call him back’. Then two seconds later my agent called me. So I pick up his call, he’s like ‘You talk to him?’ I’m like ‘Nah bro, I’m sleeping.’ He’s like ‘Well, you just got traded so you should probably call him back.’ I ended up looking at my phone, he ended up texting me everything that was happening, like ‘Yeah we traded you here, here.’ And then I ended up calling him and he ended up saying like ‘Yeah we traded you for Damian Lillard.’ So, I also had no clue.”
Holiday continued by saying “I think for me it was just a shock because, at least let me know 24 hours in advance, not five minutes in advance. And maybe I’m asking for too much. It’s kind of like, I mean, we won, I won there.”
“At least let me know 24 hours in advance, not 5 minutes in advance”
— Jrue Holiday tells @Money23Green how he found out he’s getting traded for Dame
The full trade involved the Blazers receiving Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, the Bucks’ 2029 first-round pick and Bucks draft swaps in 2028 and 2030, the Bucks receiving Lillard, and the Suns receiving Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little, Keon Johnson and Grayson Allen.
The Trailblazers then sent Holiday to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams, a 2024 1st-round pick (via Warriors), and a 2029 unprotected 1st-round pick (via Celtics).
Holiday This Season
During his time on the Bucks, specifically last season, Holiday spent his time as a key piece of their offense. Joining Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, and Derrick White in Boston has forced Holiday to take a smaller role.
Last season Holiday averaged 19.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 7.4 assists for the Bucks. He took 15.3 shots per game and had a usage rate of 24.4%, the third-highest on the team.
This year, Holiday is averaging 12.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game. His field goal attempts have fallen to 10 per game, while his usage rate has dropped to 16.1%.
With all that being said, Holiday has still performed spectacularly in his role. He is one of the league’s best 3-point shooters this season, shooting a career-best 44.5% on 4.6 attempts per game while playing stellar defense.
Holiday’s Future With the Celtics
Holiday has a $39.4 million player option for the 2024-25 season, and if he exercises it, will become a free agent the year after.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on The Hoop Collective that there is mutual interest for Holiday to remain in Boston, saying “He [Holiday] is eligible on April 1 to [re-sign], he’s already eligible now but he, this sounds funky, he gets more eligible April 1. There’s fewer limits on what he can sign April 1. And I do think that there’s interest on both sides to get something done sooner rather than later. Whether they do or not I don’t know.”