In an ideal world, the Boston Celtics should be able to keep Jrue Holiday around for next season, but based on their current financial situation and how many teams are interested in a deal, he will probably be traded before the start of next year.
At his end-of-season press conference, Holiday effectively stated that he wanted to stick around in Boston. He feels as though they still have a championship-caliber team. "I think we still have a really, really great opportunity and a great window to be successful and win a championship again," Holiday said on Saturday afternoon. "I think the talent that we have on this team, not only on the court, but the coaching staff all the way up to Brad, has been amazing. So, yeah, the opportunity to win is now, and I still want to be part of that."
Unfortunately, it may be financially irresponsible for Boston to keep him on the roster.
**Why do the Celtics need to trade Jrue Holiday?**
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The Celtics have been a second apron team for the past two years, and staying in that world for three of any five-year span results in a bunch of CBA-induced penalties. Boston is not going to stay in the second apron.
Trading Kristaps Porzingis’ salary will be a great step in the right direction, but Boston needs to clear more than $20 million to get under the apron. Porzingis makes over $30 million, but that likely still won’t be enough.
Even if they fully dumped Porzingis’ salary without getting anything back in return (which seems somewhat unlikely), the Celtics would only have $10 million of wiggle room to fill out the rest of their roster—that includes re-signing Luke Kornet and Al Horford, if they want to.
Perhaps a Sam Hauser trade could help them avoid moving Holiday, but considering that they may just end up running into this same problem next year because of the length of his contract, trading him now makes sense.
**What is Jrue Holiday’s value?**
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And on top of all that, Holiday seemingly still has some value around the league. Despite his monster contract and age, teams are interested.
According to [Marc Stein of The Stein Line](https://substack.com/redirect/1a3cacbb-c4a3-4c93-b289-2477f7d2a963?j=eyJ1IjoicXR0M3UifQ.zdXwOcfeIB1-QugZtPoeP01CZwZE9P3sOl7k18zjYw0), the Dallas Mavericks are reportedly [intrigued by adding him](https://hardwoodhoudini.com/boston-celtics-jrue-holiday-trade-rumors-dallas-mavericks-marc-stein-new-partner-offseason-chaos-kristaps-porzingis-cap-space). Teams like the LA Clippers, Houston Rockets, and San Antonio Spurs could make some sense as well.
Holiday’s contract is only getting larger, and he’s still getting older. This may be the last time in his career that he has positive value on the trade market.
So, for as much as Holiday wishes to stick around, and for as much as his presence would help the Celtics win games, it makes too much sense to trade him this summer.