{"id":149275,"date":"2025-07-08T11:23:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=149275"},"modified":"2025-07-08T11:23:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:23:13","slug":"celtics-still-win-jrue-holiday-trade-despite-reworked-details","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/07\/08\/celtics-still-win-jrue-holiday-trade-despite-reworked-details\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics Still Win Jrue Holiday Trade Despite Reworked Details"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>BOSTON<\/strong> \u2013The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/celtics\/\" target=\"_self\">Boston Celtics<\/a> didn\u2019t blink when the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/trailblazers\/\" target=\"_self\">Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> adjusted the <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/holidjr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jrue Holiday<\/a> trade. A fresh look at Holiday\u2019s medicals shifted the final terms. Instead of receiving two second-round picks with <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/simonan01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anfernee Simons<\/a>, Boston settled for a straight player swap. Even so, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/24\/celtics-won-jrue-holiday-trade\/\" target=\"_self\">Jrue Holiday trade still lands as a win<\/a> for the Celtics.<\/p>\n<h2>Celtics Still Win Jrue Holiday Trade Despite Reworked Details<\/h2>\n<p>Aaron Fentress of <em>The Oregonian<\/em> first confirmed the update. \u201cHoliday\u2019s medicals revealed nothing substantial enough to warrant the trade being negated,\u201d he wrote on X. \u201cHowever, there was enough there to lead the Blazers to slightly alter the terms of the deal.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Portland Trail Blazers trade with the Boston Celtics has been reduced to a straight player swap without the previously reported two second-round picks going to the Celtics, a league source has told The Oregonian\/OregonLive.<\/p>\n<p>According to the source, a recent review of\u2026 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/P5KzBABg1h\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/P5KzBABg1h<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Aaron J. Fentress (@AaronJFentress) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AaronJFentress\/status\/1942274803274240101?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 7, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Holiday, 35, plans to train this summer and join training camp in September. Jrue Holiday\u2019s trade frees the Celtics from the final three years of his $135 million extension. In return, they get Simons, who enters a contract year worth $27 million.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Holiday\u2019s Health Nudges Portland to Adjust<\/strong><\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_149280\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-149280\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-149280\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/USATSI_23135193_168415934_lowres-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Jrue Holiday\u2019s trade to the Blazers is still a huge win for the Celtics despite the rescinded second-rounders \" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/USATSI_23135193_168415934_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/USATSI_23135193_168415934_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/USATSI_23135193_168415934_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/USATSI_23135193_168415934_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/USATSI_23135193_168415934_lowres-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/USATSI_23135193_168415934_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/USATSI_23135193_168415934_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-149280\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apr 7, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday (4) looks on against the Portland Trail Blazers during the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Portland\u2019s review uncovered no deal-breaking injuries but signaled enough concern to rework the agreement. If Holiday were perfectly healthy, the Blazers wouldn\u2019t have touched the terms. They clearly felt caution was worth more than the two extra second-round picks.<\/p>\n<p>Still, Holiday won\u2019t sit out. Reports confirm he\u2019s healthy enough to prepare for the season. That\u2019s good news for the Blazers, who will lean on his experience to steady a young roster. But Jrue Holiday\u2019s trade hints that his prime might be fading.<\/p>\n<p>Boston read the room well. At 35, Holiday\u2019s value declines fast. The Celtics knew they had to get ahead of any health slide.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Boston Clears Cap and Adds a Young Scorer<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>By moving Holiday\u2019s pricey extension, the Celtics gained cap breathing room. The Jrue Holiday trade brings in Simons, a younger guard who can score in bunches. Simons now steps into Boston\u2019s rotation hungry for a payday. He\u2019ll play motivated basketball with free agency approaching.<\/p>\n<p>Losing two second-round picks will barely sting. Keeping them cushions Boston\u2019s asset pool for future deals. Still, the Celtics hold more flexibility now than they did prior to the trade.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>No Picks? No Problem for Boston<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Many expected Boston to sacrifice leverage this summer. Opponents knew the Celtics planned to offload Holiday\u2019s contract. Even so, they didn\u2019t get fleeced.<\/p>\n<p>This league loves to expose mistakes. When front offices panic, teams lose leverage. That didn\u2019t happen here. Boston stayed patient surveying the market before nailing the Holiday trade.<\/p>\n<p>Smart teams understand timing. Holiday\u2019s medicals made Portland nervous. Boston didn\u2019t beg for compensation. They convinced Portland to push through the trade despite losing those second-rounders.<\/p>\n<p>Years from now, we might see the Jrue Holiday trade as the turning point when Boston kept its edge sharp.<\/p>\n<p><label>Credit:<\/label>\u00a9 Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BOSTON \u2013The Boston Celtics didn\u2019t blink when the Portland Trail Blazers adjusted the Jrue Holiday trade. A fresh look at Holiday\u2019s medicals shifted the final terms. Instead of receiving two second-round picks with Anfernee Simons, Boston settled for a straight player swap. Even so, the Jrue Holiday trade still lands as a win for the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":149279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,5,3],"tags":[1559,239,98,4557,1382],"class_list":["post-149275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-news","tag-anfernee-simons","tag-jrue-holiday","tag-nba-draft","tag-nba-offseason","tag-nba-trade"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149281,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149275\/revisions\/149281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}