With a swath of NBA superstars having already made commitments to play for USA Basketball at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, officials have reportedly turned their sights to the newest member of the Boston Celtics, Jrue Holiday. Managing director Grant Hill and other Team USA officials are aggressively pursuing Holiday, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
A two-time All-Star and five-time All-Defensive selection, Holiday was a crucial member of the USA team that won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. According to Wojnarowski’s report, Holiday is “beloved” by USA Basketball officials, and was considered the most important player on the 2021 roster outside of Kevin Durant.
Holiday, who was traded to the Celtics last week after three seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, has yet to make a decision about 2024. If he decides to play, he’ll join a potential roster of NBA elites who have already made commitments, such as:
- LeBron James
- Kevin Durant
- Stephen Curry
- Joel Embiid
- Devin Booker
- Anthony Davis
- Kawhi Leonard
- Paul George
- Jayson Tatum
- Jaylen Brown
- Donovan Mitchell
- Bam Adebayo
That’s just a sampling of players who are interested, so it’s notable that Hill and Team USA are going so hard after Holiday when they have plenty of other options. Holiday is arguably the best defensive guard in the NBA, and Team USA was reportedly concerned about the defense it displayed en route to a fourth-place finish at the FIBA World Cup this summer in the Philippines.
Holiday is coming off the most complete season of his career, with averages of 19.3 points, 7.4 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game on 48/38/86 shooting splits, in addition to a first-team All-Defensive selection.
