The Boston Celtics and Jrue Holiday have agreed to a four-year, $135 million contract extension, a source confirms to Boston Sports Journal. Holiday will decline his $39 million player option next season as part of the deal, so this contract will begin this upcoming season. The fourth year of the deal, when Holiday will be 37 years old, will be a player option.
Karalis’ analysis:
Back in October, Brad Stevens said acquiring Holiday was “something we hope can be a long-term relationship.” Once both sides were officially allowed to negotiate in April, it’s clear Stevens stuck to his word.
The Celtics are making the most of this potential championship window. They have spent a full season with this core and it’s very clear that it works. Boston has the best record in the league this season, the league’s best offense and second-best defense. The new CBA is designed to break these teams up, and it will in fairly short order, so the Celtics are clearly going to take a couple of swings at a championship with a very capable group.
Holiday has been a key to Boston’s defensive prowess, mostly because he’s being used in a unique way by Joe Mazzulla. Instead of always being at the point of attack, Holiday has spent a lot of this season starting on the back line, which has challenged him to be better and see more.
“It’s been so fun because I see the game in a different way,” he said in an appearance on Draymond Green’s podcast. “Before I was just so locked in to hounding the ball, disrupting it, sending them over the screen … it was a consistent type of thing that I was doing. And now, one day I might be on a non-shooter, the next day I might be on a shooter. I might be on a big … So many things play into the defense now and I didn’t see the game that way.”
White is also having his most efficient season as a pro on offense. He’s shooting a career-best 43% from 3, 58.1% effective field goal percentage (which adjusts for the added value of 3-pointers), and 59.8 true shooting percentage (which takes 2s, 3s and free throws into account).
The combination of him and Derrick White, who is also up for an extension, has made Boston’s backcourt one of the most dangerous in the league on both sides of the ball.
By declining his player option, Holiday saves the Celtics approximately $9 million in salary and, depending on their overall salary sheet next season, a significant multiple of that in luxury taxes. It probably doesn’t do much to get them below the second apron, though there is a lot of work to be done in the offseason that impacts that.
This does not impact Boston’s ability to extend White, though I doubt that will happen. White is durable enough to take a risk heading into free agency to maximize his payday from Boston. This is much like the Jaylen Brown situation where the rules limit what White can make in an extension versus free agency. White had a great season and he can build on that next year knowing that he’ll have the ball in his hands a lot. I’m not ruling out an extension for White, I’m just saying he and his agent might want to wait. Boston can be patient with that situation because he’s under contract next season.
The TL/DR here is that Boston locked up a key player for the long-term, saved a little bit of money next season, and they’ll figure out the rest later on. They will be one of the most expensive teams in history, if not the most expensive, over the next few season if this core is kept in place. It sure looks like it will be, and that the Celtics are not cheaping out in their quest for multiple championships in this window.