The Portland Trail Blazers received criticism for their offseason trade, swapping Anfernee Simons for Jrue Holiday with the Boston Celtics. Holiday has a championship resume that speaks for itself, but there were still question marks surrounding his declining play in Boston and how he'd fit the timeline of an up-and-coming Blazers roster at 35 years old. Not to mention, his massive contract, as the Blazers are set to pay him $104 million over the next three years.
Seven games into the 2025-26 season, the Blazers now sit at 4-3, and as a result, Holiday has already addressed most of those concerns. Portland has found a winning formula under Holiday's leadership, justifying the trade and contract.
Blazers may have found their playoff recipe with Jrue Holiday
Everything general manager Joe Cronin intended to accomplish with this trade is coming to fruition. Holiday may not be the elite two-way guard he once was, but he's proven that he still has plenty of gas left in the tank, as injuries and a limited role appear to have decreased his statistical output in Boston -- not the "washed" narrative.
With the Blazers, Holiday is averaging 16.7 points, 8.3 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.4 steals on 47/32/80 shooting splits. Portland's offense under Holiday still has room for improvement, which was exposed in their disappointing loss against the shorthanded Los Angeles Lakers. We always knew there would be limitations in terms of their shooting and playmaking throughout the roster. But what is surprising is how much Portland is compensating for those roster weaknesses by dominating the possession battle.
With him leading the defense, Portland is No. 1 in the NBA in turnovers created per game. They're playing the passing lanes and rank No. 9 in defensive rating. If they sustain this, they can finish the season hovering around .500 by the end of the year and be right in the play-in conversation.
At first, this trade was somewhat contradictory. Cronin made an aggresive move for an expensive, aging star, which is the type of move that contending teams make when they are a piece away (hence why Boston initially acquired him from Portland). Despite the pricey trade, Portland wanted to keep its books clean over the offseason in order to prioritize its young core by extending Shaedon Sharpe and Toumani Camara. Cronin also continued to emphasize a long-term and patient outlook for a young Blazers team.
But it took less than ten games for this vision to become clear. Holiday is the perfect bridge to help the Blazers take that next step as an unselfish star who makes everyone around him better on both ends of the court.
For a young team still learning how to win, that kind of leadership is worth the $104 million price tag.