JULY 6: The Pelicans have officially re-signed Holiday, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 1: The Pelicans have reached an agreement to re-sign point guard Jrue Holiday, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who reports that the two sides have struck a five-year, $126MM deal. Wojnarowski adds that the value of the contract, which includes a fifth-year player option, could increase to approximately $150MM via incentives.
According to Wojnarowski, Holiday met with Pelicans officials with New Orleans late on Friday night in New Orleans, and while they didn’t make a deal immediately, the 27-year-old reached an agreement with the team just a few hours later. Holiday had been expected to meet with the Pacers and/or Knicks if he hadn’t agreed to re-sign with the Pelicans.
As Wojnarowski details, the Pelicans and Holiday developed a strong bond after the way the franchise helped the point guard deal with a family crisis last fall, when he missed the start of the 2016/17 season to care for his wife and newborn child. Head coach Alvin Gentry also has “tremendous trust” in Holiday’s ability to run New Orleans’ offfense, per Woj.
Re-signing Holiday was New Orleans’ top priority this offseason, particularly given the team’s salary cap situation. With more than $85MM in guaranteed salaries already on their books for 2017/18, the Pelicans weren’t in a position to create significant cap room to sign a replacement point guard if Holiday had decided to head elsewhere.
Because they held Holiday’s Bird rights, the Pelicans had the ability to go over the cap to lock him up, and now will have the mid-level ($8.4MM) and bi-annual ($3.3MM) exceptions available to add further reinforcements. They’ll also have a “big three” of Holiday, Anthony Davis, and DeMarcus Cousins for at least the next year, until Cousins’ contract expires in the summer of 2018.
Holiday, the 17th overall pick in 2009, arrived in New Orleans as a result of a draft-day trade in 2013. He has been reliable and productive over the last four years when he gets on the court, though he has been plagued by injuries too, having averaged just 52 games per season. In 2016/17, the UCLA product averaged 15.4 PPG and 7.3 APG.
It will be interesting to see whether the Pelicans express any interest in Justin Holiday this week. The Holiday brothers publicly stated earlier this year that they’d love the opportunity to play together, and Jrue’s older brother is also a free agent this summer.
Jrue Holiday was the No. 14 player on our list of this year’s top 50 free agents. He’s one of several point guards who has already struck an agreement since free agency opened less than eight hours ago. Stephen Curry, Jeff Teague, Patty Mills, and Shaun Livingston also have new deals in hand, leaving Kyle Lowry, George Hill, and Derrick Rose as the top point guards available.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
They finally got what they thought they were getting from the 76ers when he was on a cheaper contract but it was just in time for him to get a big raise. But I defiantly think that he is totally worth this money to keep him paired with Davis and Cousins.
My Biggest Concern is … will they have enough Cap space to Resign BOOGIE NEXT YEAR???? Can someone explain that to me?!!
They’ll have Cousins’ Bird rights, so they’d be able to go over the cap to re-sign him.
Always be aware of guys having a career year in a contract year. It’s usually not just coincidence.
His numbers aren’t that much better or different than his career numbers. Jrue has always been a solid player but injuries have affected him more than bad play.
I know this would be basically impossible given the money and the assets but just imagine if the Pelicans landed both George and Heyward and had a lineup of Holliday George Heyward Davis Cousins. That would be contending with the Warriors for sure
Well if Holiday has waited to sign they could’ve sent out Asik and picks plus any young players they have for George, and then they would’ve been over the cap anyway, could’ve used Holiday’s bird rights and still had the exceptions available.
Way too much money
We always say too much money then another player sign cor more and this deal seems like a bargain . Pels next moves will be signing Justin Holiday, Brad Wanamaker, and resigning Dante Cunningham. Clearing Moore and Ajinca contacts for space.
I’m hering a lot about Brad Wanamaker, but is he a International or European player. Pels need to find bargain deals with those type of player either way!
He was a solid player at pitt who went overseas and became a euroleague star. Could be a good off the bench wing
Averages $25 mil a years, averages 25 games missed a year
Holiday’s closest comps through first seven years on basketball-reference:
Jrue Holiday
Darwin Cook
Kevin Grevey
Vernon Maxwell
O.J. Mayo
John Williamson
Pooh Richardson
Ramon Sessions
Chris Childs
Tyreke Evans
John Long
Luminaries. If he’s playing 50 games a year that’s $500,000 a game. Good contract.
Man. I wish I was an above average NBA player. Not even a star. The stars get more money but also all the criticism (ex: KD, LBJ). Guys like Jrue just collect the big check and no one will criticize him if he never wins a title because he’s not a star or a leader. He has it good.
Ha! Good point! $20M plus annual contracts handed out to just above average people. Being a little better than average in basketball & baseball is the way to be!
What do you mean “a little better”? Holiday is literally one of the 40 best basketball players in the entire world. There are hundreds of millions of people that want to be in the NBA, he’s better than 99.999% of them.
You’re pretty much criticizing him in your comment.