After the Celtics traded for Jrue Holiday, it was reported Boston bested Toronto and Miami in the effort to acquire the veteran guard.
Both of those teams made sense, as they reportedly each made strong pushes for Damian Lillard and enter the 2023-24 NBA season with legitimate playoff aspirations. But an expected team apparently threw its hat in the ring as well when the Portland Trail Blazers made Holiday available.
According to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, Danny Ainge’s Utah Jazz made a run at the two-time All-Star.
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“Utah was in it,” Lowe said on his podcast, as transcribed by MassLive. “I’m not sure they were on like the final, final Jrue Holiday list because they’re just not going to be good enough. And I like that Utah was in on it because Utah has so many picks from so many different places that they have the luxury of saying, ‘You know what? If we get a really good player and a really good role model for our young guys who also clears up what is kind of a cluster — you know what? Random guards all put together and have so much stuff left over — why not, why not? Because we don’t need to tank necessarily as hard as some other rebuilding teams.'”
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Holiday had options — Lowe reported the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks were interested as well — but he seemingly is pleased with how things shook out. The Celtics reportedly were at the “very top” of his wish list once he left Milwaukee.
This makes plenty of sense, as Holiday and the new-look Celtics have as good of a chance as any team to win the 2024 NBA title.
Featured image via Michael McLoone/USA TODAY Sports Images
