Boston Celtics: Pros and cons of pursuing a Jrue Holiday trade

Cons

If you are going to take on two years of Jrue Holiday, you are doing so at the expense of a potential 24 years of cost-controlled first-round talent. That’s an easy pill to swallow considering the #14, #26 or #30 pick isn’t likely to bring the Boston Celtics closer to banner #18 than the versatile combo guard Holiday.

What makes the pill a Godzilla-sized one is what it would take to pry Holiday out of New Orleans. Gordon Hayward would be the ideal piece to part with, but he doesn’t make any more sense in a New Orleans Pelicans offense that already features similarly profiled wing Brandon Ingram and the face of the franchise in Zion Williamson at the same position.

Marcus Smart may need to be included in the proceedings, and if he is the centerpiece, other contracts like Daniel Theis, Robert Williams, Romeo Langford, and Grant Williams would need to be added to match salaries.

All of a sudden the Cs depth would be cut in half for Holiday. What if he doesn’t fall in love with the idea of being the potential fifth option in the offense, or worse, a sixth-man? It’s one thing to ask a pass-first point guard to get Holiday in more positions to score. In Beantown, he’d be asked to attempt to score far less most nights.