Jrue Holiday traded to Celtics
The Portland Trail Blazers have traded guard Jrue Holiday to the Boston Celtics for Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams in addition to multiple first-round picks, ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski was first with the news Sunday.
Wojnarowski notes that the two first-round picks will be Golden State’s 2024 first-round pick–which they acquired in the Marcus Smart–Kristaps Porzingis three-team trade–as well as an unprotected 2029 first-round pick.
The Celtics are trading Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogdon, 2024 GSW 1st, 2029 unprotected BOS first to the Blazers, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/gx53jyH1RG
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 1, 2023
In summary, the Blazers did not do badly with the Damian Lillard trade, flipping Lillard, Nurkic and Nassir Little for three first-round picks, two pick swaps, Brogdon, Williams, Deandre Ayton and Toumani Camara.
Jrue Holiday will be on the books for $36.9 million this upcoming season–including $6.3 million in likely and unlikely performance-based incentives–as well as a $39.4 million player option in 2024-25, the final year of his contract. After previously stating earlier this year that he was considering retirement at the end of his contract, Holiday, 33, stated in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he was no longer planning on retiring at the end of his contract.
In that same interview, he also said he wanted to finish his career in Milwaukee … days before getting shipped for Lillard. Holiday will be eligible for a three-year extension in late February.
The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 19.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 1.2 steals last year, shooting 47.9 percent from the floor, 38.4 percent from 3-point range (career-high 6.1 3PA) and 85.9 percent from the charity stripe. He saw his biggest usage (25.0 USG%) last season due to the shaky health of Khris Middleton–steadily improving as a playmaker and secondary ball-handler alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo.
He won’t be tasked to do as much in Boston next to Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, however. Though the aforementioned trio–in addition to two-way stud Derrick White, Al Horford and Porzingis–form one of the best top-six leaguewide, especially on the defensive end.
Holiday is very well-suited to operate in Boston’s switch-heavy scheme defensively and is the best possible replacement for Smart at the point of attack. He’s even recognized by his peers as being the NBA’s best defender. He might be 33-years-old without much room for improvement, but that’s absolutely not nothing.
It was a home run move for Brad Stevens and a Celtics squad that needed more toughness, putting them in prime position to compete with Lillard, Antetokounmpo, Middleton and the Milwaukee Bucks for the Eastern Conference crown and, perhaps, an NBA Title.
This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.
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