New Orleans, Jrue Holiday Agree To 5-Year, $126 Million Extension
The New Orleans Pelicans and Jrue Holiday have agreed on the terms of his new contract.
The new contract, which Adrian Wojnarowski broke in the early morning of July 1 (possibly after Jrue slept on the deal on the table), will pay Holiday approximately $126 million over five years, with a player option on the last year (2021–22 season). If it follows a standard Bird rights signing (i.e. eight percent annual raise), the first year of the deal would be approximately $21.6 million.
According to Wojnarowski, that deal could push up to $150 million, if Holiday meets the criteria for some incentives. Those will probably be “unlikely” incentives, meaning they won’t count against the team’s salary, as it pertains to the salary cap (but will count as it pertains to the luxury tax apron).
If looked at from the lens of the other two point guard deals already agreed upon (Teague and Mills), this deal sounds just about right. Holiday, who averaged 15.4 points (53.2 percent TS) and 7.3 assists (2.9 turnovers), struggled to regain his 2015–16 form, probably due to a traumatic family emergency (his wife had a benign tumor while carrying their unborn child).
Jrue Holiday 2016–17 Stats: 15.4 points (45.4 field goal percentage, 35.6 percent 3-point percentage), 3.9 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 1.5 steals
Fit
Holiday’s a long and relentless on-ball defender that has the size and speed to cover up to three positions, in a pinch. That has value, especially when you play him alongside E’Twaun Moore, Solomon Hill, Anthony Davis and Slim Boogie — all of who are valuable, switchy defenders. His off-ball defense comes and goes and becomes a problem versus good off-ball guards like Curry and Lowry.
Offensively, he doesn’t have that aggressive, attack-attack mentality that so many of the lead guards of the modern NBA possess, as he prefers the slow plod-and-prod approach. He’s a good pull-up shooter (12th highest effective field goal percentage on pull-ups on a minimum of five pull-ups per game) and a decent catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter (35.5 percent over the last four years). His game is more akin to (pre-2017) Mike Conley than say, John Wall. What this all means is that he can still work in a pace-and-space offense, but he can’t be the primary engine.
Luckily, the Pelicans have two of those in Davis and Cousins. With those two, he can be free from the burden of always trying to score and create, and instead, focus on taking smart shots and orchestrating the offense.
Those three— who will account for 70+ percent of the Pels’ cap room — are the new Big 3. And there’s a lot of evidence they could work well together.
Most will feel this is an overpay — and it probably is — but considering the worst case scenario (a $174 million, five-year max offer), this is a solid compromise.
Signing Grade: C+
