The Sense Of A Jrue Holiday Trade For Mavs
The Dallas Mavericks have a history with New Orleans Pelicans two-way shooting guard Jrue Holiday.
In the summer of 2017, the Mavs reportedly emerged as 'serious contenders' to not only sign Jrue Holiday, but also his brother Justin, as it was known that both players liked the idea of playing together. Had New Orleans not offered Holiday the fifth year on his $126 million contract, he very well could've found himself in a Mavericks uniform that offseason.
Fast-forward to today, and Holiday is coming up in NBA rumors again. On Wednesday, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that the Pelicans are "openly discussing" Holiday in trade talks with "several contending teams" pursuing him.
When you consider what we already know, which is that the Mavs want to make 'win-now' moves this offseason, and then pair that with the fact that Holiday would give this Mavs team a little bit of everything it needs, it's easy to see why we're inclined to believe that Dallas is among those "contending teams" trying to put together an acceptable trade package for him.
Whether Holiday himself was truly interested in the Mavs in 2017 can be debatable, as many viewed it as Dallas being used as leverage for Holiday to get the deal he ended up getting from New Orleans. However, this time around, you have to think there would be some genuine interest from Holiday when it comes to the idea of joining the Mavs, especially now that Luka Doncic has morphed into an All-NBA First Team mega-star in just two NBA seasons.
"(Luka) has everything," said Holiday back in March, after Doncic put up 30 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists to help the Mavs beat the Pelicans 127-123 in overtime. "He can shoot the ball, he can get to the basket. He has nice size, so he can post you up. He can pass. He can do everything."
READ MORE: Beal: Wizards Are Getting Trade Offers
As much as DallasBasketball.com has pushed for and covered every angle of a potential Bradley Beal-to-Dallas trade over the last few years, the idea of trading for Holiday seems to be a much more realistic move. Holiday isn't the superstar player that Beal is, and he's also 30 to Beal's 27, but he's still 'third-star'-like next to Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis, enough so that it would push the Mavs deeper into title contention for the upcoming season.
Last season, Holiday averaged 19 points, seven assists, five rebounds and nearly two steals per game for the Pelicans, while shooting 46% from the field and 35% from deep. Imagine the production if he's playing with Doncic and Porzingis?
The idea of the Mavs attempting to add Holiday simply makes too much sense for it not to be a real possibility this offseason. The larger questions are about what the Mavs could offer the Pelicans to get them interested? Can Dallas' best trade offer compete with some of the other 'contenders' out there pursuing Holiday?
That's where our Mavs Step Back Podcast comes in, as we give our answers to all those questions and much, much more in the first 15 minutes this week's episode.
With just two weeks to go until the NBA Draft, and Sports Illustrated's Jeremy Woo reporting that the Mavs are actively shopping the No. 18 pick in search of immediate help, a trade for Holiday could happen sooner than later. Can the Mavs be the highest bidder? Let's discuss ... as we're about to find out.
