NBA Execs Dreaded Possibility Of Celtics Landing Jrue Holiday

Jrue Holiday has a chance to be a perfect fit for the Celtics, and NBA executives outside of Boston know it.

Holiday found a new home on Causeway Street on Sunday when Brad Stevens and company pulled off a blockbuster trade with the Trail Blazers. Portland acquired Holiday in last weekend’s Damian Lillard deal, but it became immediately known that the Blazers planned to flip the veteran guard rather than keep him on a young, rebuilding team.

And when the Holiday sweepstakes opened up, front office folks around the league feared the possibility of the two-time All-Star landing in Boston.

“I got texts from a couple of non-partisan front office executives … that were in the vein of, ‘This is what I worried about for the Bucks when they made the Lillard trade: that Boston would come in and get Jrue Holiday, and that the Bucks … may have inadvertently helped their biggest rival more than they realized they did — and maybe more than they helped themselves,'” ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on a recent episode of his podcast, as transcribed by NBC Sports Boston.

Concern from rival teams about Holiday joining the Celtics is warranted. With the 33-year-old playing alongside Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Boston now arguably has the best starting five in all of basketball.

Oddsmakers certainly think the new-look C’s are bound for big things. As of Tuesday afternoon, Boston is tied for the shortest 2024 championship odds at FanDuel Sportsbook.