UCLA Basketball: Future Of Recent NBA Champ Could Hinge On Ex-Bruin's Free Agency
Even on the cusp of his 15th pro season, All-NBA Milwaukee Bucks combo guard Jrue Holiday remains one of the most feared guards in the Eastern Conference.
Unless you're Jimmy Butler, anyway.
But the Miami Heat swingman isn't the only game in town.
Holiday was a foundational part of the Bucks' 2021 championship team. Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report notes that the two-time All-Star and five-time All-Defensive Team honoree, 33, has a $39.4 million player option for the 2024-25 NBA season.
As Pincus writes, holding onto Holiday may be imperative to retaining the Bucks' other 2023 All-Star.
"Keeping Holiday could be the key to [Giannis] Antetokounmpo's future in Milwaukee. Holiday remains a tremendous player," Pincus writes. "Milwaukee won't have much flexibility. Like [Khris] Middleton this summer, Holiday could opt out and re-sign on a longer deal at a lower price. Ultimately, Antetokoumpo's fate may depend on how the team performs in the playoffs. To that end, keeping Holiday is likely the Bucks' priority."
Across 67 regular season contests in 2022-23, Holiday showed few signs of slowing down despite his relative NBA dotage, averaging 19.3 points on .479/.384/.859 shooting splits, 7.4 assists, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.2 steals a night.
During his one-and-done Bruins run during the 2008-09 season, Holiday averaged 8.5 points on a .450/.307/.726 slash line, 3.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.6 blocks a night.
