Celtics’ Jrue Holiday just won the NBA’s most overlooked award of the year

On Thursday, the NBA announced that Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday has won the 2024-25 NBA Sportsmanship Award. The award has been handed out every year from the 1995-96 season onward, and this is the second time Holiday has earned the honor. He won it for the first time after the 2020-21 season, when he was a member of the Milwaukee Bucks.

This is the first time in league history that a member of the Celtics has won the award. Holiday has been in Boston for two years now after joining them via a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers last summer—a deal that helped the Celtics win a championship.

Holiday has been a very well-respected member of the NBA for a long, long time.

Jrue Holiday wins NBA Sportsmanship Award

In addition to winning the NBA Sportsmanship Award twice, Holiday has won the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award three times—more than any other player in NBA history. (Though that award has only been handed out yearly since the 2012-13 season.)

Fans may not think of this award when they think of honors they want their favorite players to win. But it matters. And it's far more important than people realize.

In order to build a championship-caliber team, you need players like this on the roster. It's no coincidence that Holiday has been a building block of two title teams in the past five years. Good players who are also good people make building good teams much, much easier.

Holiday has also won plenty of NBA honors for his on-court play. Holiday is a two-time All-Star, selections that were roughly a decade apart, a six-time All-Defensive player, and a two-time champion with the Bucks and Celtics.

At the moment, Holiday is dealing with a right hamstring strain. He played in Games 1 and 2 of Boston’s first-round series against the Orlando Magic but missed the final three games. The Celtics went 2-1 in those games without Holiday.

Holiday was a crucial part of the Celtics’ puzzle in those two games that he played in. His defense against Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner was very effective, and with Jayson Tatum sidelined in Game 2, Holiday stepped into a very important playmaking role.

During the 2024-25 regular season, Holiday averaged 11.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.9 assists while shooting 44.3% from the field and 35.3% from behind the three-point line.

His impact stretches far beyond the basketball court, however, as his multiple NBA awards indicate. Holiday’s leadership has been crucial for the Celtics. During their 2024 title run, he was the only player on the roster who had previously won an NBA championship.

The hamstring injury he’s dealing with could seriously impact Boston’s playoff run this year. The Celtics should be in a good spot for their next round against the New York Knicks (or Detroit Pistons), but against anyone they could see in the Eastern Conference finals and beyond, Holiday would be needed.