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Jrue Holiday's Top Landing Spots amid NBA Rumors After Damian Lillard Traded to Bucks – Bleacher Report
Acquiring Jrue Holiday helped lift the Milwaukee Bucks over the top in pursuit of an NBA championship. They’re now hoping that trading him away will do the same.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Holiday is heading to the Portland Trail Blazers in a three-team deal that will see Damian Lillard go to the Bucks.
Not surprisingly, Wojnarowski added the Blazers “are expected to immediately engage contending teams on trade talks” centered around Holiday. It’s hard to see how the 33-year-old fits on a team embarking on a rebuild.
Three teams immediately stand out as logical landing spots for Holiday.
Miami Heat
The most obvious contender is the same one that spent the summer chasing Lillard in what proved to be a fruitless pursuit.
The Blazers drove a hard bargain when it came to arguably the greatest player in franchise history. They presumably won’t have that same level of resolve in negotiations around Holiday, which should be welcome news to the Miami Heat.
Jrue Holiday would be an amazing fit in Miami, but we've kinda seen how negotiations go between the Heat and the Blazers…
Opportunities to land a player as good as Lillard don’t come around often, but Miami’s interest in the seven-time All-Star underscored the general uncertainty surrounding Kyle Lowry.
Holiday would represent a clear upgrade at point guard, and his two-way abilities would suit the Heat perfectly. He was a 39.5 percent three-point shooter while remaining an elite perimeter defender with Milwaukee.
Imagine him sharing the floor with Jimmy Butler. This would be a great consolation prize to losing out on Lillard.
Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers have likewise been linked with a marquee guard all offseason.
Try as he might, James Harden has been unable to carve a path to the West Coast from the Philadelphia 76ers. And now, a new avenue may have opened for the Clippers.
Russell Westbrook performed well after swapping one Crypto.com Arena locker room for another in 2022-23. He averaged 15.8 points and 7.6 assists and shot 35.6 percent from beyond the arc in 21 starts with the Clippers.
It’s fair to wonder how much of that production—the shooting in particular—is sustainable over a full season. But even that version of Westbrook isn’t as good as what L.A. could get with Holiday.
Holiday would help to alleviate some of the defensive burden on Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, and he could help anchor the team on that end of the floor when one or both of Leonard and George are out of action.
Philadelphia 76ers
Speaking of the Sixers, Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports reported Philadelphia has already shown some interest in Holiday.
Perhaps this is the trigger that grants Harden his preferred move to the Clippers. He could be included in the trade to acquire Holiday, or president of basketball operations Daryl Morey could be more amenable to receiving a lesser return for the 2017-18 NBA MVP in a separate deal if a replacement is lined up.
Holiday is a downgrade from Harden in terms of scoring and playmaking, but his defense is something the Sixers sorely need to help cover for Tyrese Maxey in the backcourt. He’s also well-acquainted with playing alongside a bigger star who likes to operate out of the paint.
Pairing him with Joel Embiid wouldn’t be a shock to the system.