The Portland Trail Blazers have less than a month to figure out what the best path forward is with veteran point guard Jrue Holiday. Many have proclaimed that shedding his contract would be the most ideal outcome, but there's merit to keeping him on the roster, as well.
If the Trail Blazers are unable to find equal value in a potential trade, then the question they'll be faced with borders on impossible to definitively answer: Would simply shedding Holiday's salary actually be a win?
The obvious answer is that the Trail Blazers should jump at the opportunity to swap Holiday for a more team-friendly contract. That would not only free up space to re-sign key players, but build out the roster when the time comes to do so.
The other side of the conversation, however, is that Portland is a young and inexperienced team that can benefit immensely from Holiday's presence.
Things are looking up for the Blazers, with Deni Avdija and Shaedon Sharpe leading an impressive resurgence after a 9-16 start. The difference between a streaky team and one that successfully navigates the regular season, however, is often leadership in the locker room.
Holiday is too valuable in that regard for Portland to simply trade him for pennies on the dollar—particularly when he has championship perspective no other current contributor can offer.
Jrue Holiday is too valuable for Blazers to simply shed his salary
Holiday is one of the rare point guards in the NBA who doesn't need the ball in his hands to be effective. His game is built on unselfishness, with an uncanny ability to highlight his teammates' strengths until stepping up at the perfect moment to positively influence the outcome of a game.
That alone makes him an ideal fit in Portland, as the offense seems to thrive when Deni Avdija is running it from the wings.
Rather than trading Holiday for a point guard who may want to dictate the pace of games, the Blazers should consider prioritizing his unselfishness. He played a similar role in Boston and Milwaukee, won a championship at both stops, and earned critical acclaim for his adaptability.
Though Holiday is 35 and perhaps not quite the player he used to be, his experience and unselfishness can help set a winning tone in terms of how Portland approaches offense overall.
On the other end of the floor, Holiday has continued to excel as one of the best at his position. The six-time All-Defense honoree is never questioned for his effort or consistency, and has been a vocal leader on that end of the floor.
Trading Holiday for the purpose of simply shedding his salary would thus mean losing a point guard who perfectly fits the Trail Blazers' ideology.
If the ideal trade comes along that allows Portland to shed the remaining years on Holiday's contract and acquire a meaningful asset, then it should be considered. If the only true outcome is a financial reset, however, then the Trail Blazers would be losing a coveted talent with the mere hope of being able to find a replacement.
With this in mind, the Trail Blazers must resist temptation and only trade Holiday if the return yields more than financial relief.