Reports that former vet Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday was angry about being traded to the Portland Trail Blazers may be somewhat overblown based on what the UCLA alum shared in a recent interview with his new team. It turns out that Holiday was not only not angry about the move, but looking forward to the opportunity he had in front of him with the Trail Blazers.
And that tracks given what we recently heard in another post-trade interview from former Boston big man Kristaps Porzingis, who shared last week that the team’s front office had let them know such moves might be on the horizon during the 2024-25 regular season. Per Holiday, Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens himself let him know the move was about to go down, in fact.
“I was at home in California,” said the Los Angeles native (h/t Boston Dot Com’s Conor Ryan). “I ended up getting a call from Brad (Stevens), and he ended up telling me a little bit before, but I was excited.”
“I knew that obviously I got traded here before. So it was just kind of full circle. Talking to (Blazers coach) Chauncey Billups about it, talking to (Portland general manager) Joe (Cronin) about it,” he added.
“I really do appreciate what they did for me the first time around. That really does mean a lot for me in my career. So I know this time around, just talking to them, they’re just kind of like, I got another chance to get you, and they thought that I’d be a good piece here.”
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