In a sense, the Portland Trail Blazers' road matchup against the New York Knicks was an audition for Jrue Holiday. The Knicks have expressed interest in the Blazers veteran guard leading up to the Feb. 5 trade deadline.
Holiday is 35 and has plenty of sample size working in his favor, but he hasn't played well as of late since coming back from injury. This is now the second consecutive game in which Holiday finished with just five points.
Against the Knicks, he recorded five points, four assists, two rebounds, and four turnovers, shooting just 2-of-7 from the field in 22 minutes. Portland was blown out, 127-97.
Jrue Holiday's contract should terrify the Blazers
Holiday is still on a minutes restriction and deserves the benefit of the doubt. But at the same time, this could be an ongoing theme for Portland. Holiday has a history of injuries and hasn't played at least 70 games since the 2017-18 season. A natural decline in athleticism, coupled with injuries, is a recipe for disaster and could quickly make him a negative asset in Portland.
He's only getting older and more expensive.
Holiday is on the books through 2027-28, when he has a massive $37.2 million player option. He'll be 37 years old at that point. And who knows how much his production will decline by then.
If this version of Holiday is your highest-paid player, you're in big trouble. It will only make it harder for Portland to retain and upgrade its young core, especially given that Deni Avdija is outplaying his current contract.
The Blazers traded for Holiday with the intention to keep him this time around, but they should seriously consider moving him in the next week. It remains to be seen how much this recent stretch has hurt his trade value, if any. It's possible teams are concerned about taking on that contract for the same reasons Portland should move on from it, particularly under the new CBA.
But the Blazers must at least explore options to see if there's a team willing to overlook Holiday's age and salary for a win-now move. He proved to be the missing piece in both Milwaukee and Boston, with a ring to show for it at each stop. But the Blazers aren't in that position. For them, the stakes are much lower, as they are a team that simply wants to make the postseason. That's not worth the risk of holding onto Holiday, as his value is only going to decrease from here.
Hopefully, the Knicks can look past this five-point performance, or another team comes around, because the Blazers long-term outlook is better off without their aging guard.