Daryl Morey
The Philadelphia 76ers will have cap space this coming offseason. Among the many names who could hit the open market, one they could potentially go after is a familiar face: Jrue Holiday.
While talking with Heavy Sports‘ Sean Deveney, a Western Conference executive floated the Sixers as a team that could pursue Holiday. At the same time, he did not sound optimistic that such a scenario would come true.
“I think you get Holiday back at three years and $90 million,” the executive told Deveney in an April 5 story. “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.”
Holiday is in the third year of a four-year, $135 million contract. He has a player option for the 2024-25 season worth $37.5 million.
Adding Holiday would bring some sentimental value since the Sixers drafted him with the No. 17 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. He played for the team from 2009 to 2013.
Jrue Holiday Calls Out Former Team Before Playoffs
Holiday played for the Milwaukee Bucks from 2020 to 2023 before the Bucks traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers. While Holiday says he has no hard feelings, he called out the Bucks with the postseason coming up.
“I want to beat them,” Holiday told Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer in an April 4 story, “because I want to win the championship.”
The Celtics currently have the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, sporting a record of 61-16. The Bucks are right behind them at 47-29. For the two of them to meet up, it’s likely one of them will have to get through the Sixers first.
Joel Embiid’s meniscus injury has led to the Sixers dropping in the Eastern Conference. However, his return makes the Sixers a team that no one will want to face. At full strength, the Sixers could make some noise in the East no matter where they finish.
Jrue Holiday Says Scary Time Helped Him With Trade
After his time with the Sixers, Holiday went through something very frightening. His wife Lauren needed surgery for a benign brain tumor while pregnant with their child.
He and his family got through it, and it was the strength he acquired from that experience that prepared him for when the Bucks traded him.
“I think it helped me prepare for [the trade],” Holiday told The Ringer’s Mirin Fader in an April 3 story. “Life does hit you in different types of ways at different times, and maybe just subconsciously, you learn this lesson. … I know some people get down on life … but I think for me, and I don’t know why—maybe it is because of the support of my family, maybe it is because of my faith—but it’s always turned out to be something that I grew from and made me so much stronger.”
Excluding his brief time with the Trail Blazers, the Celtics are Holiday’s fourth team.