For the most part, the Boston Celtics’ second-straight loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night was all bad news, particularly after Monday night’s disasterpiece. There was, however, one positive development: the return of guard Jrue Holiday to the starting lineup. Holiday has emerged as the Celtics’ “glue guy” this season, which makes re-signing him a growing priority for the franchise.
Holiday had been absent the last five games with what the team called a “dead arm” issue, a description one normally finds in MLB injury reports. While there were worries that this could keep Holiday on the shelf for an extended period, he later clarified that it was a sprained AC joint that he would return from shortly.
Sure enough, head coach Joe Mazzulla did not hesitate to play Holiday heavy minutes in the overtime loss to the Hawks. In 37 minutes, he scored 13 points along with seven rebounds and five assists. As usual with Holiday, the numbers didn’t tell the overall story as his tenacious defense was invaluable in what ended up being a back-and-forth affair highlighted by a 44-point night from Atlanta’s DeJounte Murray (who, in storybook fashion, capped things off by hitting the game-winner in OT).
Holiday tends to be the most overlooked member of Boston’s starting five. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, obviously, have been the team’s engine since the end of the ill-fated Kyrie Irving era. Derrick White emerged as an All-Star candidate this year. Meanwhile, Holiday’s late arrival this offseason was overshadowed by the team’s acquisition of bigman Kristaps Porzingis, whose larger-than-life presence has literally revamped the Celtics’ entire look.
Because he’s been surrounded by these impact players, Holiday’s offensive stats have been relatively modest since his arrival to town. He’s been averaging 12.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.9 assists this season. Given that the Celtics have the NBA’s best offense, however, that hasn’t been his fault. It’s not even his job!
Holiday was brought in to be a defense-first player who could also score, a two-way player with a sharp basketball IQ. He’s here, in effect, to help bring what Al Horford brought to the starting rotation before the Celtics shifted him into the Sixth Man role to save his legs. It also doesn’t hurt that Holiday’s a three-time NBA Teammate of the Year who brings with him championship experience due to his time with the 2021 Milwaukee Bucks.
The Celtics, right now, are looking at their present. They still need to win a few more games before securing the best record in the NBA, something which will allow Mazzulla to start resting players and figuring out his playoff rotation. However, the C’s brain trust is already thinking about the future and working on how to ensure that includes Holiday.
On April 1st, it will be six months from the day that Boston sent Robert Williams III, Malcolm Brogdon and a first-round pick to the Portland Trail Blazers for Holiday. It was an opportunistic move for the Celtics, as Holiday was only available due to the Bucks’ surprising trade for Damian Lillard. The Celtics saw him as the potential last piece in a potential title contender and, to put it mildly, he has performed exactly as they had hoped.
Holiday, however, is not guaranteed to stay past this season. He has a $39.4 million player’s option for the 2024-25 season but it’s quite likely that other teams will offer him a more long-term free agent contract should he opt out, possibly also while promising a larger offensive role.
The Celtics would prefer to keep Holiday who has also expressed interest in signing a long-term extension with the team. However, as NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg points out, even re-signing him to his option would likely push their payroll into the $200 million mark next season, putting them into the realm of the repeater tax. Bringing the whole gang back will be financially impossible for Boston, meaning that re-signing Holiday would mean making painful cuts elsewhere.
That’s life in the modern NBA, of course. The modern CBA is specifically designed to make it nearly impossible for franchises to keep expensive, winning rosters together for too long. That’s why the best-case scenario is for the Celtics to take advantage of having Holiday now: the future will arrive sooner than anybody hopes.
Leave a Reply