Jrue Holiday’s brief but very successful tenure with the Boston Celtics has come to an end.
The C’s traded the veteran point guard to the Portland Trail Blazers in return for guard Anfernee Simons and two second-round picks, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported late Monday night.
Holiday has three years and around $104 million left on his contract. The Celtics, as one of the few teams in the second apron of the luxury tax, are saving around $4.7 million by completing this trade and are saving $40 million in luxury tax payments for next season, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
Boston is now $18 million over the second apron line, so there could potentially be more moves to come; Charania reports the Celtics “remain engaged in trade talks surrounding multiple key players on the roster.”
Simons isn’t the best defensive guard, but he’s a dynamic offensive player who can shoot well from 3-point range. The 26-year-old veteran averaged 19.3 points, 4.8 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game while shooting 36.3 percent from beyond the arc in 70 games for the Blazers last season. He’s entering the final season of his four-year, $100 million contract previously signed with Portland.
The Celtics acquired Holiday in October of 2023 in a trade with the Blazers. Holiday made an immediate impact as a scorer, an elite defender, a great leader and someone with championship experience.
He played a key role in the Celtics’ run to their 18th championship with a 2024 NBA Finals triumph over the Dallas Mavericks.
Holiday made a lot of clutch plays in the 2024 playoffs, including a game-winning steal in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final versus the Indiana Pacers.
In two seasons with the Celtics, Holiday averaged 11.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game, while shooting 39.2 percent from 3-point range.
Holiday was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2020 and helped lead them to a title the following season. He did the same after being dealt to the Celtics. Accomplishing that feat in Portland will be pretty tough, but Holiday can definitely help a young Blazers team that finished last season strong and is seeking to end its playoff drought in 2026.
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