The Portland Trail Blazers had a golden opportunity to offload Jrue Holiday's $32.4 million salary at the trade deadline. They didn't take advantage of that window, deciding to hold onto their veteran guard they acquired this past summer. That signals their lack of confidence in Scoot Henderson earning the keys to the backcourt.
Scoot Henderson's uncertainty forces Blazers to keep Jrue Holiday past trade deadline
Portland's former No. 3 overall pick has missed the entire 2025-26 season due to an untimely hamstring tear. It's been a frustrating situation for everyone involved, as the injury has lingered far beyond the initial expected recovery timeline.
Scoot is finally set to return to game action and could even make his season debut as soon as Friday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies. That's going to boost Portland's playoff chances, as they've had to stay afloat out west with a depleted backcourt for the majority of the season. But most importantly, this end-of-season stretch will give the Blazers an opportunity to evaluate Henderson.
Many anticipated Portland would trade Anfernee Simons this past summer to clear the path for Scoot, but acquiring Holiday didn't quite resolve that situation. Add a hamstring tear into the equation, and the Blazers don't know what they have yet in Scoot.
That must have played a factor in keeping Holiday past the deadline. But it's a risky proposition as Holiday is already 35 and showing signs of decline. The Blazers could quickly have a negative asset on their hands, as his contract runs through 2027-28, at which point Portland will be paying a 37-year-old guard $37.2 million.
Hopefully, that's not the case, and the Blazers can still find a way to flip Holiday (yet again). But this trade deadline may have been their best opportunity to do so, as it's only going to get harder to convince teams to surrender legitimate assets for such an expensive veteran.
Ideally, the Blazers would've been able to see what they have in Henderson before the deadline. He overcame a historically bad rookie campaign to show legitimate signs of progress in key areas last season. At the very least, he's not the bust that many prematurely declared him to be.
Whether he's Portland's long-term answer at point guard remains to be seen. But if the Blazers were confident in that answer being a resounding yes, Holiday would've been moved at the deadline. For better or worse, the uncertainty in Portland's backcourt is what ultimately kept him around.