NBA Rumors: Pelicans Could Trade Jrue Holiday To Nuggets For Trade Package Centered On Bol Bol
Since Anthony Davis was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers last summer, rumors have started to swirl around veteran point guard Jrue Holiday and his future with the New Orleans Pelicans. No matter how many times the Pelicans insist that they have no intention of moving him, most people expect Holiday to be available on the trading block in the 2020 offseason. According to Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report, one NBA team that could express a strong interest in acquiring Holiday this fall is the Denver Nuggets.
The Nuggets may be currently in the playoff race, but they are not in any way considered as one of the top favorites to bring home the Larry O’Brien Trophy this year. In order to have a legitimate chance of fully dominating the Western Conference and winning the NBA championship title, the Nuggets obviously need to surround the face of the franchise, Nikola Jokic, with more star power. To bring Holiday to Denver, Bailey suggested that the Nuggets could offer a trade package that includes Bol Bol, Gary Harris, Keita Bates-Diop, and a 2020 first-round pick to the Pelicans.
Bailey believes that the potential deal would also make a lot of sense for the Pelicans aside from the future first-rounder as they would also acquire three young and promising talents joining their core of Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, and Josh Hart.
“Derrick Favors is entering free agency, so there may be a role for the 20-year-old Bol Bol to fill alongside Zion in the frontcourt. Though 24-year-old Keita Bates-Diop is a bit older, he still has some untapped combo forward potential. Gary Harris may be younger than you realize, too. The 25-year-old won’t impact games quite like Jrue did, but he’s five years younger, and his salary is necessary to make the math work under the cap. Altogether, the rising Pelicans would get a veteran, a promising prospect, a bit of a question mark, and a draft pick for Holiday.”
Trading all those assets would undeniably be a tough decision for the Nuggets, but it’s the type of sacrifice that they should be willing to make, especially since they are in win-now mode. Holiday may not be on the same level as Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook, but he would tremendously improve the Nuggets’ performance on both ends of the floor, giving them a very reliable scoring option and a great perimeter defender.
This season, Holiday is averaging 19.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists, and 1.7 steals while shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 35.4 percent from beyond the arc, per ESPN. With the years Holiday spent with an All-Star caliber big man like Davis in New Orleans, chemistry wouldn’t be a problem between him and Jokic. Also, with his ability to excel in an off-ball capacity and play as a shooting guard, he wouldn’t have a hard time sharing the backcourt with a ball-dominant player like Murray.
