The Portland Trail Blazers made a clear commitment to changing the culture when they traded for veteran point guard Jrue Hoilday. Unfortunately, many around the NBA downplayed the value Holiday was due to provide with low grades for the trade that brought him to Oregon.
It's only taken five games for Holiday to turn the negative narrative on its head by emerging as a veteran leader who's setting the tone on both ends of the floor.
Portland sent longtime shooting guard Anfernee Simons to the Boston Celtics in a one-for-one trade for Holiday early in the 2025 offseason. Morten Stig Jensen of Yahoo Sports graded the trade with an A for the Celtics, but gave the Trail Blazers a C.
Kevin Pelton of ESPN expressed a similar sentiment by giving Boston a B- and Portland a brutal C-, citing Holiday's contract and age as factors that failed to align with the franchise's youth movement.
Thoughts of that nature were found throughout the NBA, as Holiday is 35 and will make $104.4 million between 2025-26 and 2027-28. That includes a $37.2 million player option for the 2027-28 season, which could conflict with when Scoot Henderson becomes a restricted free agent.
In just five short games, however, Holiday has offered captivating evidence of how easily he can justify the Trail Blazers' investment and permanently silence the critics.
Jrue Holiday is already making a powerful impression on Trail Blazers
Through five games with Portland, Holiday is averaging 19.6 points, 7.8 assists, 5.4 rebounds, 1.4 steals, and 2.6 three-point field goals made per game. He's doing so while shooting at an efficient clip of .514/.382/.846.
Some of those numbers may ultimately decrease, but it's worth noting that he boasts an efficient career slash line of .462/.370/.788 that's within a reasonable range of his current marks.
Beyond the individual numbers, the Trail Blazers are outscoring opponents by 13.5 points per 100 possessions when Holiday is on the court. By comparison, they're being outscored by a team-worst 2.2 points per 100 possessions in the 79 minutes they've played without him.
That number is a clear reflection of how Holiday has taken on a leadership role amongst a group of players that seems determined to build upon a late surge of success in 2024-25.
The 2024-25 season was a tail of two halves for the Trail Blazers, as they went 13-28 during their first 41 games and 23-18 over the final 41. One of the primary reasons Portland was able to turn things around was the greater emphasis that was placed on defense.
Portland ranked No. 3 in the NBA in defensive rating over the course of its final 41 games in 2024-25, and is picking up where it left off by sitting at No. 6 through five outings in 2025-26.
Trail Blazers are building upon 2024-25 success with the perfect leader
Holiday has undoubtedly strengthened the Trail Blazers' efforts to make defense the top priority. He's a six-time All-Defense honoree who has finished in the top 10 in Defensive Player of the Year voting on five different occasions.
With Holiday setting the tone for a team that's already shown flashes of defensive greatness, the Trail Blazers are beginning to tap into their potential.
It must also be noted that Portland has endured early off-court adversity. For a generally young team, having a two-time NBA champion with 17 years of NBA experience and a reputation as a revered teammate and leader is an unfathomably valuable safeguard against internal disaster.
Future seasons will still determine how Holiday's contract is viewed, but even then, adding him was a calculated risk that Portland took with its long-term outlook in mind.
Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, Donovan Clingan, Yang Hansen, and Shaedon Sharpe are all signed through at least the 2027-28 season. Furthermore, Avdija is signed to a bargain of a deal, Clingan and Hansen are on rookie-scale contracts, and Henderson isn't eligible for free agency until 2027.
If there was ever going to be a time to take a chance on Holiday, it was during the 2025 offseason. In only five games, the gamble has begun to pay off.