1:17pm: The Bucks have announced (via Twitter) that Holiday’s extension is now official.
11:34am: The Bucks have reached an agreement on a four-year maximum extension with guard Jrue Holiday, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Agent Jason Glushon confirms the deal, which could be worth as much as $160MM.
Holiday has been considering the extension since being acquired in a November trade, Charania adds (via Twitter). He wanted to get more familiar with the roster, coaching staff and front office before making a commitment. Charania notes that Milwaukee now has long-term deals with its three stars: Holiday, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton (Twitter link).
The agreement means Holiday will bypass an opportunity to become a free agent this summer. His current contract contained a $26.765MM player option for next season.
Holiday, 30, has been considered one of the NBA’s top two-way players for several years, but Milwaukee provides his best chance to compete for a title since he entered the league in 2009. He’s averaging 17.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.4 assists and a league-best 1.8 steals per game in his first season with the Bucks.
The first season of a veteran contract extension can have a starting salary worth up to 120% of the player’s previous salary. Although Holiday has a cap hit of just $25,876,111 in 2020/21 for the time being, that figure doesn’t account for a handful of incentives, which bump up his maximum starting salary further.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the four-year extension has a base value of about $135MM, which means it’ll start at approximately $30.13MM. It can be worth up to a total of $160MM with incentives, though Holiday is unlikely to earn all those bonuses.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Kind of a overpay, but that was expected and Jrue is playing really well
Not sure what a max contract amounts to these days but Jrue is a very good two-way player whose game compliments Giannis and Middleton’s. Also for the price they paid to acquire him they needed to extend him to make it worthwhile.
He is. Guess it’s a question of whether someone who isn’t a “superstar” deserves a max contract. Then again the term “superstar” is relative.
Yes, i was thinking like this
They called both Jrue and Middleton “star” players which is certainly debatable, obviously their only superstar is Giannis.
If they win a title, that estimation will be proven false, or at least re-evaluated.
Considering Middleton should’ve been third team All-NBA last season I would consider him a star player even if he’s not a superstar.
Superstars find path to success in playoffs, no matter what.
All stars make the regular season more fun to watch.
Holiday might be a superstar, if he can be an unstoppable force during postseason. Giannis has been stopped, quite handily and with his weaknesses exposed. Either could emerge this season but Jrue has to work more heavily against the age clock, which is the biggest factor to determine how his new deal looks. He has not been healthy long in this league. That kind of thing never gets better with age. Should he overcome it, he’s more superhuman than superstar.
Holiday didn’t sign a max contract. Having 10+ years experience he was eligible for a 5yr/$228MM extension. His new deal is valued at 4yrs/$135MM with incentives which can bring it up to $160MM. Hard to say the Buick’s didn’t do well in a thin top tier free agent market.
I read that the contract is 4/$135m and incentives would bring it to $160m. Regardless he has been amazing lately and is one of the best 7 or 8 PGs in the league right now so it’s an appropriate deal. His game should age well too.
Kyrie
Mitchell
Jamal Murray
Lillard
Curry
Simmons
Harden (essentially a PG)
CP3
Trae
Luka
LaMelo
Fox
Conley
That’s 13 off the top of my head that are above Jrue, not including a bunch of swing guys who initiate offense
You have Conley and Mitchell… they cant both be Utah’s PG lol
Same with Kyrie and Harden and Luka isnt really a PG… Also, no way Fox, Lamelo, Trae are better at Def and Off. CP3 in his age is not better any more and Kyrie isn’t consistent and is always injured. I’ll give you
Steph
Lillard
Murray
Simmons
Harden
Mitchell
Simmons would be a horrible fit on the Bucks is oo
Morant should be on this list too
Hah you beat me to this. So much wrong with his list. CP3 five years ago, sure. Trae, Lamelo, Fox five years from now, quite possibly.
Chris Paul *this* year has a higher PER and BPM than Jrue. But ok, I’ll grant you that over the long term Jrue will be better.
But let’s look at the other guys you’d mention. So you’d rather have a 30 yr old Jrue for 4 years than them? Maybe you would. But I bet if you polled NBA GM’s you’d get a different answer.
The thing about it is you can’t have those guys rather u want to or not. Your a team with no space either way.
So is Jrue top 7-8 PG or top 7-8 PG fit the Bucks?
Also Luka is a top 3 passer in the league and initiates 90% of Dallas’s offense … are we considering Magic Johnson a SF now too?
I mean I guess with the fluidity of positions in today’s game you could object to almost anyone on the list. Steph and Mitchell and Murray aren’t traditional PG’s and Harden has played a lot of SG. Even Jrue played a lot of SG in New Orleans.
But I would still, regardless of positional quirks, say he’s probably at best on the margins of a guy I’d want to max out. But Milwaukee probably didn’t have much of an option, to be fair.
Considering the Bucks didn’t come close to signing Holiday to a max contract (5yrs/$228MM versus 4yrs/$135MM guaranteed + $25MM in incentives) I’d say they did quite well.
A team can’t have two PG’s? That’s news to me. Because they’re both PG’s.
Butthole –
Dude, give it up. How many posts are you gonna put up to try to convince everyone. Nice screen name, by the way. Are you 14?
KCJ—
I’m discussing basketball on a basketball message board with a completely juvenile and absurd user name. That’s something I take pride in. No regrets here.
But maybe one day, with a little luck, I’ll become as mature as you—adding nothing to a discussion and believing my HoopsRumors.com user name somehow correlates with my standing in physical society.
I’d be impressed if a 14 year old knew who The Butthole Surfers are.
Lmao!
I may be wrong here, but I thought a PG usually facilitated the offense and was a great passer of the ball. They also are usually one of the better defenders on their team, tasked with taking on the other teams PG. Not sure how Harden comes to mind here. Kyrie at least passes the ball so I would say he’s closer to a PG than an SG, but saying Brooklyn has two PGs is laughable.
“Kyrie at least passes the ball”
Yet Harden leads the dam league in assists.
Clearly you’re using a separate set of metrics to judge positions, we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one.
Sure, but these guys don’t exist in a vacuum. Is Holiday essential to the Bucks success? If yes, then you have to pay him and treat him like any other top guy. If no, then you pay him like anyone else.
Remember this
Based on my evaluation,
excluding last two years all stars
There are 70 players who make $12 million or more this year, 63 players are overpaid
$12MM is what you pay a starting caliber player. Considering there are 150 starters in the NBA I think some of your 63 “overpaid” players are likely worth their salaries.
Why did I use $12 million?
I did not include Rookie Contracts
Ok, so if you include rookie contracts let’s say 60 starters are still on rookie deals. That leaves 90 players who would be worth $12MM or more as a starting caliber player.
If salary cap is 110 how is 12 million only starter money.
Why would a starter on a team with 10 player rotations only make 11% of the cap. I never knew how egalitarian the NBA should be.
Next year team salary should be around $150 million
They should have kept Brogdon
Add Tucker $8 million
It would be $158 million
Edit
Totals 150 million included Tucker
Holiday option in
Jrue Holiday makes Malcolm Brogdon look like a total scrub
Exactly. Holiday is underrated. His impact goes unnoticed many times, but the folks on the floor see it. Put him at point and have him guard the top guard and no need to worry. He’s that player.
I agree. $20MM+ for Brogdon would’ve been a poor investment especially with his injury concerns.
Name 1 season Brogdon managed to start the season healthy, finish the season healthy, and didn’t miss extended time at least once at some point in between.
He wasn’t, isn’t, and won’t be worth the contract he got, much less be a better value than Holliday on his current salary, or the extension numbers.
Talk about a Holiday Sunday!
Hopefully they can work out a long term deal for Dante, too.
Massive overpay. Worth 20-25 mill annually at most on open market. Bucks window just closed before it began, yikes.
You clearly don’t watch the Bucks, but what a shocker since you appear to be a Lakers fanbro. Jrue has been one of the league’s best PGs this year and has been out of this world good the last two weeks. He’s now their second best player. The Bucks have won 16 of their last 19 and he came back from COVID to start that. If they win the East he’s likely the main reason. Even more than Giannis.
They’ll have those two for four more years, the window just got propped open after it began 2 years ago… it’s like you didn’t see the Bucks nearly make the Finals in 2019. That window been open
Yawn. No substance, just subjective rhetoric from a bucks fan. Sorry buddy, but both the sixers and nets are much better than bucks as currently constructed. This isn’t 2019. Not even worth mentioning against teams in the west, because they will be lucky to get out of second round this season.
Holiday and middleton are both great players but nothing about this roster screams title contender outside of giannis. Bench is pretty meh and coach bud stinks in playoffs as noted by his bizarre lineups and choice in crucial moments.
Against top squads this season bucks have looked pretty mediocre. Suffering some huge blow outs and barely beating teams but a few points. Just were blown out by clippers a couple nights ago which highlights there lack of shooting and depth outside of middleton, holiday, and giannis.
Not only Jrue’s individual ability, but Giannis, Middleton, and Jrue all fit together so well. Bucks are actually a team that attract buy-out players recently, and they’re clear contenders for ring-chasers to have a real opportunity.
As a native Bucks lifer – I saw why they had to trade for him, but I was ready to watch him be a reincarnate of Bledsoe that would lead to Giannis leaving after his extension.
Would love to watch them win a title, but am already happy we have at least four more years of actual relevancy.
Bucks will be a playoff team for the next 4/5 seasons easily. If your happy with that then you have a lot to look forward to. They are a solid 3/4 seed in east but if we are going in terms of merit to win a rings nets and sixers are both loaded with talent. Don’t see bucks beating either in a 7 game series. Against nets they would be lucky to win 1/2 games
The fact you’re here trolling this signing so hard is just cementing my confidence that this was a great decision.
I think the fit is the main point. Many teams are more than the sum of their parts. I suspect the Bucks are one of them, and Brooklyn is more the opposite.
I liked the Bucks buyout signings and I get the reasons why they traded for and maxed out for Jrue, even if it was an overpay to me.
I think they have a shot – a Jrue-Giannis pick and roll will be potentially deadly.
But I disagree on Brooklyn. If KD is healthy I think they’re the favorites to win it all, just way too much talent and shooting to stop. But that health is still a decent sized “if”.
I’m starting to believe you’re Mitch Kupchak.
At this rate
Lonzo contract would be 4 year $130 million max?
Lonzo
14, 6, 4
3pts 39%
Holiday
17, 5, 5
3pt 39%
Wiggins
18, 5, 2
3pt 40%
Not possible for a rookie extension. Plus Ball has none of the credentials and pedigree Holiday has. The comparison isn’t even there on paper.
Free agent market for good players
Demand 100
Supply 5
Holiday’s defense well exceeds either of those players.
Bucks were likely going to have make the market on him regardless. Baked in the cake when they traded for him with the last of their trade assets. So, somewhere between the rest of the market and the max is where it was always going to fall (how much room is there in between, and how meaningful is it). Factor in the premium for getting it done early, and its hard to argue with this.
Good luck keeping any depth with those 3 contracts on a small market team. They have little depth as it is
Vets will sign for the min, especially on a team that plays well fundamentally like the Bucks.
They still have Lopez, DiVincenzo, Connaughton, Tucker, Forbes, Portis still on the roster. Add a couple ring chasers and this team has plenty of depth.
Way too much, but is a nice player 25-30 range and a team option on the 4th yr not a superstar that’s crazy but there is alot of overpaid players in this league
Free agent market is pretty thin so they had to overpay to avoid losing him for nothing. Either way I don’t consider bucks a contender
I gotta admit that this is what the Bucks needed to do. Yes some may think this is an over pay but to be honest this does off set the endorsement these players forgo being in a small market. Does anyone know if the Henson and Sanders contracts are off our cap yet. I look for the Bucks will watch how IT does the next ten days, then we can sign Rivers or IT. We definitely need these rookies to be better then average.
Henson was off the books when he was traded to Cleveland. Sanders comes off the books after this season. Leuer will we off after next season.
Good for him.
DeAaron Fox is a really good player and Jrue straight up dominated him last night. Did the same against Lillard a few years ago in the playoffs. Dude is seriously underrated and has improved Milwaukee immensely on both ends of the floor. Great deal.
At this point, any player that isn’t a bonafide superstar that gets a large contract will have people claiming it’s an overpay. This is the price to pay for great players. Holiday is very very good and is arguably the most underrated player in the NBA. Great for the Bucks to keep him around.
This is the NBA can we all just accept that almost every player is completely overpaid? There are plenty of guys just stealing money in the NBA. This was not a shock imo. They really don’t have any other option but to double down. It’s not like they have the cap space to sign someone.
This is all fine and dandy but here’s the question, can coach Mike budenholzer get it done in the playoffs?
First reaction…too much for too long. Hope to get a couple of “star” years out of him and then hold my breath. He is playing up to expectations this season so I’m pleased with that. Bud and the bench are the big question marks. This may be his last chance this season if he does not make the finals.
OKC will still be rebuilding then, you can trade his salary for one of their million 2nd rounders.
Too long? It’s a four year deal for a player who isn’t even 31 yet. Essentially his deal will be done by the time he’s 35 (i.e. the same age CP3 was to start this season).
All about timing. 130 mill over 4 yrs. It’s less than what Kemba signed for. Kemba signed for 4 yrs 141 mill. He’s worth it to Bucks that’s all that matters. He’s the best 2way guard in NBA. I consider Bucks a favorite. I’ve been saying get Holiday for two yrs. The playoffs will be where we will all see his true worth to this team. You can’t key on Giannis anymore. Jrue gets everyone involved. And he’s capable of shutting down other guards. Those two things are huge in big games. Makes Giannis more dangerous with a guard who can run offense.
Way too much money.
Nothing to see here. This is pretty much normal fare in the NBA. Almost every team overpays somehow at some point.
Small-market teams are forced to overpay to get some mid-tier stars to play for them.
Also, BUCKS had no choice but to pay up, having given up all those picks to get Jrue, in the first place.
D Russell signed for 4yrs, 118 mill. He was 24 when he signed with GS. Holiday is worth it to Bucks. Playoffs all about winning now. Jrue and Giannis are two 1st team all D team type players. They will be tough in playoffs.
Could have been more $. Bucks will be over the cap anyway, and they traded so many assets… few left… had to pay.
Jrue has held value in the playoffs but at the 2. Always has a good on-off, a great team player. Average BPM, but the best-ever PER this year. Most everyone will be rooting for him vs Brooklyn. Should be best Buck vs Sixers. Team may not have good sync yet but neither does the competition. Next year look out.
Bucks all in on the big-3 scheme! Should be stable and good for the next four years. Yearly top 4 EC.
I’ve been a big Jrue Holiday fan for a really long time. Good for him. Hope he stays healthy