Jrue Holiday is so underappreciated

USA Today

24-06-2025

BREAKING: The Boston Celtics have traded Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers for Anfernee Simons and two second-round picks, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/2ycXQicGkT
Another summer, another Jrue Holiday trade to the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Blazers and Boston Celtics pulled off a trade while most of us were snoozing, reportedly swapping Holiday for Anfernee Simons and two second-round picks in a deal that should give Boston some cap relief while also replacing a little of the offense they lost when Jayson Tatum went down with an Achilles injury.
It wasn't all that unexpected… well, at least the Holiday part. We knew the Celtics were entering an offseason of likely changes as they approached the second apron of the NBA's collective bargaining agreement. Holiday was always a top candidate to be moved as a 35-year-old due $104M over the next three years with his game in apparent decline. It makes complete sense from Boston's side of things.
That doesn't make the trade sting any less for Holiday, though. Putting myself in his shoes, this must suck so much.
GRADES: Who won the Celtics-Blazers trade?
Just imagine how it must feel to be traded by a team you just helped win a championship. Now imagine how it must feel to have that happen TWICE... in three years! As soon as things get shaky, Holiday just always seems to be the odd man out. Consistently friend zoned. Good enough to help a team win, but not good enough to commit to.
In 2023, it was the Milwaukee Bucks who traded Holiday to Portland, two years after their championship run and just a day after he said he wanted to retire in Milwaukee. To make matters worse, his wife said the Bucks gave him no indication a trade was on the table. A month later, Portland flipped Holiday to Boston, where he presumably planned to finish his career after winning another title last summer -- just for it to happen all over again. Now, he finds himself back in Portland, where he should probably just get a permanent residence at this point.
Think about how underappreciated Holiday has to feel right now. This is a two-time all-star with six All-Defensive teams on his resume. And he's a great locker room guy. He won the NBA's Sportsmanship Award for the second time in his career this season, and he's also a three-time recipient of the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award. He seems like a great guy.
The 2024-25 NBA Sportsmanship Award winner is... Jrue Holiday!Holiday receives the Joe Dumars Trophy for the annual honor that recognizes the player who best represents the ideals of sportsmanship on the court. #NBAAwards pic.twitter.com/vePVK5Evj3
I also don't think Holiday is done being a good player. Some will point to his scoring averages over the last two seasons dropping to his lowest since he was a rookie as proof of his decline. I would point to his role as the fifth offensive option on a loaded Boston team as an easy reason why he wasn't scoring as much. And though he didn't shoot the three quite as efficiently last season, he still had one of his best years inside the arc at 54 percent shooting. And even in decline, he's a far better defender than Simons ever will be. Also, let's not act like trading Holiday worked out well for the Bucks, who haven't made it out of the first round since.
Look, I get it. At the end of the day, the NBA is a business and teams have to make tough decisions they may not want to make. That's what the Celtics did here, and I'm not even saying I blame them. Personal feelings can't get in the way of good team building. All I'm saying is you have to feel for Holiday, who will play for his fifth team if he ever suits up for Portland, which could flip him again. All he ever does is what he's asked to do, and all that does is help his teams win so much that he becomes expendable.
Tyrese Haliburton has no regrets after Achilles surgery
Tyrese Haliburton dropped a note on social media Monday night after surgery to repair his Achilles, and he had a lot to say.
While Haliburton expressed "unfathomable" frustration for how his season ended, with a torn Achilles just minutes into Game 7 of the NBA Finals, he said he didn't regret his decision to play: "I'd do it again, and again after that, to fight for this city and my brothers. For the chance to do something special."
Man. Don't know how to explain it other than shock. Words cannot express the pain of this letdown. The frustration is unfathomable. I've worked my whole life to get to this moment and this is how it ends? Makes no sense.Now that I've gotten surgery, I wish I could count the… pic.twitter.com/UyY0iFEp6Z
Haliburton apologized to Indiana for coming up short of a championship, but I'm sure the city and its fans didn't require that of him. He literally left it all on the court and they'll appreciate him forever for that. They'll also appreciate his effort to get back to his old self through what will surely be a long and tough rehab process.
From everything Haliburton said, it sounds like he's up to it. We're all rooting for a speedy recovery.
It sure sounds like the NFL colluded against guaranteed contracts
Remember back in January, when the NFL won its case in a grievance by the NFLPA over the league's alleged collusion in not giving certain players guaranteed contracts when Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson were seeking such deals? In the months since that ruling, both sides have been mum on what actually went down and we might just be finding out why now.
Pablo Torre apparently got a hold of the previously unreleased 61-page ruling from the case by system arbitrator Christopher Droney, and on the latest episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out, he along with ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio uncover the potential truth about that case: the league did in fact collude against guaranteed contracts.
EXCLUSIVE: Did a text calling Russell Wilson a "wuss" lead to the cover-up of NFL owners colluding against players?@PabloTorre and Mike Florio (@ProFootballTalk) reveal the secret document that billionaires and union execs don't want you to see: https://t.co/qEkxrqNmjB pic.twitter.com/40eTsaUwT3
"Although the NFL won, the NFL lost," Florio wrote on his blog. "As Droney wrote at pages 55 and 56 of the January 14, 2025 ruling, 'There is little question that the NFL Management Council, with the blessing of the Commissioner, encouraged the 32 NFL Clubs to reduce guarantees in veterans' contracts at the March 2022 annual owners' meeting.' In other words, the NFL wanted its member teams to collude."
The NFL ultimately won for a lack of evidence, but this seems damning enough. It'll be interesting to see what happens in the fallout of this becoming public.
Quick hits: The A's break ground ... the Mets' new good luck charm ... and more
And that's it, winners. We'll catch you tomorrow. Enjoy your day.
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