The Los Angeles Lakers have emerged as contenders to trade for a two-time NBA champion, who played for the Boston Celtics last season.
The Lakers have been busy bolstering their roster this offseason, signing DeAndre Ayton and Marcus Smart in free agency.
A disgruntled LeBron James, who considered requesting a trade according to reports, was frustrated with the Lakers’ lack of direction in recent years. That led to criticisms of LA for their inactive start to the offseason.
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The Lakers’ additions leave them somewhat short of leading contenders in the Western Conference, but adding this former champion alongside James and Luka Doncic would strike fear into the rest of the West.
Jrue Holiday is a potential trade target for the LA Lakers
Two-time NBA champion with the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics, Jrue Holiday, could be on the move again. He was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers, who also signed Damian Lillard, at the start of the summer.
Holiday’s move to the Trail Blazers never made complete sense. That’s the trade a team looking to contend for a title this season would make, and the Blazers have a young roster in need of development.
But according to Grant Afseth of FastbreakJournal, the Lakers are targeting Holiday for a potential trade.
Afseth wrote, “Holiday is a name to monitor, particularly as a potential target for the Los Angeles Lakers. That’s not to say active conversations are taking place, but his name continues to surface in NBA circles as the team evaluates options to add more talent around LeBron James and Luka Dončić.”
Holiday would transform the Lakers. The six-time NBA All-Defence guard would make LA’s perimeter defence up there with the best in the league alongside Smart and Rui Hachimura.
James and Doncic’s playmaking would take the load off Holiday on the offensive side of the ball, allowing him to space the perimeter and knock down threes at a consistent rate as a 37% career three-point shooter.
Holiday can patch up the defensive holes left by Doncic on the perimeter, while providing him a weapon on the outside on the other end. And Doncic knows as well as anyone how good Holiday’s defence is.
Luka Doncic said Jrue Holiday might be the best defensive guard in the NBA
Doncic and Holiday have a history on the big stage. They met in the 2024 NBA Finals as Doncic’s Dallas Mavericks took on Holiday’s Celtics.
Boston, one of the NBA’s most successful franchises, won yet another title in that series in large part thanks to the defence of Holiday. And back in 2022, Doncic sang the praises of the now Trail Blazers guard.
He said, “Jrue is one of the best, if not the best guard defender for me. I think he doesn’t get a lot of praise for how he can guard. So for me, it’s really tough to go against him… I’m surprised he’s never [won] Defensive Player of the Year or something.”
It’s true, he hasn’t, but Holiday has been recognised on the NBA’s All-Defence First Team on three occasions, making him the best defensive point guard in the league for those years.
He’s now 35, but the defensive talents he possesses, plus his veteran leadership, would make him a valuable asset to the Lakers.