NBA Trade Rumors: 9 teams that should be interested in Jrue Holiday

Boston Celtics

Here’s a fruity one to finish the list: Kemba Walker for Jrue Holiday.

The Celtics spent three rounds of the playoffs watching teams call for a screen with Kemba’s man and then try and beat him one-on-one. Swapping him for Jrue would eliminate this defensive hole, keep their floor stretched with Jrue’s shooting, and give more of the ball over to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

On the other side of the coin, New Orleans goes from one of the more fun teams in the league to one of the more fun teams in the league, with Kemba who’s also fun.

It’s unlikely the Pels will make the Conference Finals next season and don’t have to stress too much about defensive holes like the Celtics did.

But the reason to trade Jrue is because he’s 30 and not in the same title window as your best players, Kemba Walker is the same age.

And on top of that, while Danny Ainge has proven he can be cold-blooded with him moves, there’s little gain to move Kemba at the start of his four-year contract just to upgrade on one end of the court. Kemba is an objectively better offensive player and plenty of teams have won it all with below-average defenders on their team (see Curry, Stephen).