UCLA Basketball: All-Star Former Bruin Inks 9-Figure Extension With Current Team
Beloved former UCLA Bruins star guard Jrue Holiday looks to be sticking with his new team, the title-contending Boston Celtics, throughout the rest of playing prime (and probably a bit past that). He's just agreed to a four-season, $135 million contract extension, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
The 6'4" point guard/shooting guard has been a key component of the Celtics' league-best 62-17 season so far. He's taken a step back on offense, ceding a healthy chunk of his playmaking and shooting duties to a more loaded team than he had while with the Milwaukee Bucks from 2020-23. In a busy tenure with Giannis Antetokounmpo and co., Holiday was named to three consecutive All-Defensive teams (he's been on five overall, with a sixth seemingly likely this year) and his second All-Star team, while winning his first championship in a six-game NBA Finals series against the Phoenix Suns.
This year, he's helped his new team notch top-three rankings on both offense (first) and defense (third) with solid shooting splits (he's averaging 12.5 points on .481/.431/.833 shooting) and passing (4.9 dimes per).
In a cruel twist of fate, Boston now seems likely to face off against the Miami Heat (the current No. 8 seed) or Philadelphia 76ers (the current No. 7 seed) in the first round of the playoffs. The Heat have beaten the higher-seeded Celtics in two of their last three playoff encounters across the last four years. Holiday, while on the Bucks, could do nothing to stop All-NBA Miami small forward Jimmy Butler in a five-game first round upset during the 2023 playoffs. Philadelphia, meanwhile, was looking like a top-two seed in the East before Joel Embiid's meniscus injury. The ninth-seeded Chicago Bulls and tenth-seeded Atlanta Hawks wouldn't stand a chance against Boston even if they did somehow escape out of the play-in tournament bracket.
The stacked Celtics will be heavily favored in either matchup against the Heat or Sixers, given that Boston also boasts current All-Stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, former All-Star center Kristaps Porzingis, and probable All-Defensive Team honoree Derrick White in just its starting five, plus five-time All-Star big man Al Horford on their bench.
Holiday made the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team during the Chatsworth native's one-and-done season with his hometown Bruins in 2008-09. UCLA finished with a 26-9 record under then-head coach Ben Howland, but was booted out of the NCAA Tournament in the second round by Villanova, in an 89-69 route.
