{"id":151542,"date":"2025-07-22T08:00:27","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T12:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=151542"},"modified":"2025-07-22T03:23:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T07:23:05","slug":"lakers-blazers-jrue-holiday-trade-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/07\/22\/lakers-blazers-jrue-holiday-trade-rumors\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Could Aim for Another Former Celtic \u2014 This Time Via Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid a relatively active stretch<\/a> for the Los Angeles Lakers, one insider says they’re a candidate for another perimeter defender who recently played for their archnemesis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lakers Could Aim for Another Former Celtic \u2014 This Time Via Trade<\/h2>\n

Lakers are \u201cTeam to Monitor\u201d for Two-Time Champ<\/b><\/h3>\n

According to <\/span>NBA insider Grant Afseth<\/span><\/a>, the Lakers are considered \u201c<\/span>one of the most natural fits\u201d for Blazers guard <\/span>Jrue Holiday<\/span><\/a>. The two-time champion and six-time All-Defensive Team selection was <\/span>traded<\/span><\/a> from the Celtics to the Blazers on June 23. However, reports soon revealed <\/span>he was \u201cpissed\u201d about the move<\/span><\/a>, leading to further speculation over his future.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 62 games last season, Holiday averaged 11.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.1 steals on .443\/.353\/.909 splits. Despite his strong two-way skill set, Afseth noted Holiday\u2019s age and contract make for a \u201ccomplicated\u201d trade value. The 35-year-old will earn $32 and $34 million over the next two seasons (along with a $37 million player option in 2027). He added that Holiday\u2019s health\u2014particularly his knee problems\u2014are another source of concern among suitors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, as the Lakers consider more defensive-minded players, Afseth believes they could make a move for the veteran guard.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lakers are considered well-positioned to pursue a trade for Holiday, should they choose to go that route. Between <\/span>Rui Hachimura<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Gabe Vincent<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Maxi Kleber<\/span><\/a>, Los Angeles has more than $40.7 million in expiring salary, enough to facilitate a deal without touching its core. Though <\/span>Marcus Smart<\/span><\/a> was signed recently to bolster the perimeter defense, the Lakers could use more firepower.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Holiday Trade Doesn\u2019t Make Sense for LA<\/b><\/h3>\n

While the Lakers would certainly welcome a championship-level defender in Holiday, a trade is simply not feasible. Even if they parted with a couple players on expiring deals, they would add someone on a significant contract who\u2014considering the current state of the roster\u2014may not even enter the starting lineup. The aforementioned issues around Holiday\u2019s age and injury history also hinder his case to join his hometown team.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jan
Jan 23, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15) dribbles the ball against Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday (4) in the second half at the Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Is a Buyout an Option?<\/b><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that after waiving <\/span>Shake Milton<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Jordan Goodwin<\/span><\/a>, the Lakers have <\/span>one guaranteed roster spot available<\/span><\/a>. If the Blazers suddenly <\/span>changed course<\/span><\/a> and bought out Holiday\u2019s contract, that would be the best case scenario for LA. The team\u2019s offseason\u2014outside of the addition of <\/span>Jake LaRavia<\/span><\/a> and re-signing of <\/span>Jaxson Hayes<\/span><\/a>\u2014has been defined by <\/span>solid pickups<\/span><\/a> from the buyout market. Adding Holiday on a far friendlier contract may be the only way he ends up donning the purple and gold. With the Blazers committed to keeping him around, any dreams of Holiday coming home are just that.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Last Word<\/b><\/h3>\n

While Holiday\u2019s defense, facilitating and championship pedigree make him a solid fit for LA, there are glaring obstacles toward a potential acquisition. And with the team\u2019s guard rotation nearly set in stone, the Lakers are better off holding out for a midseason pickup or adding to their frontcourt instead.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid a relatively active stretch for the Los Angeles Lakers, one insider says they’re a candidate for another perimeter defender who recently played for their archnemesis. Lakers Could Aim for Another Former Celtic \u2014 This Time Via Trade Lakers are \u201cTeam to Monitor\u201d for Two-Time Champ According to NBA insider Grant Afseth, the Lakers are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":127827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_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":[1608,5,26,62,23,4721],"tags":[4921,50011,239,428,2057,1749,3811],"class_list":["post-151542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-lakers","category-nba","category-trailblazers","category-trade-rumors","tag-gabe-vincent","tag-jordan-goodwin","tag-jrue-holiday","tag-marcus-smart","tag-maxi-kleber","tag-rui-hachimura","tag-shake-milton"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151542","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\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151542"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151567,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151542\/revisions\/151567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}