Boston Gets Extended Holiday

April 11: Holiday’s extension is now official, the Celtics announced in a press release.

“In addition to being one of the more accomplished players in the league, Jrue is an elite teammate and competitor,” said president of basketball operations Brad Stevens. “He is simply a person who raises everyone’s level around him. He combines an unselfishness to do whatever is best for the team with an edge to take on any challenge at any time. We are grateful that Jrue is a Celtic.”

April 10: The Celtics are signing Jrue Holiday to a four-year, $135MM contract extension, agent Jason Glushon tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojanrowski.

A source tells Adam Himmselsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link) that the final season (2027/28) of Holiday’s new deal is a player option.

As Wojnarowski writes, Holiday is declining his $37.3MM player option for 2024/25 in order to sign a long-term deal with Boston that will save the team “several million dollars” toward next season’s salary cap.


The old Collective Bargaining Agreement did not permit players to decline an option and replace it with a lower salary via an extension, making Holiday the first player to utilize the change in the new CBA, notes cap expert Yossi Gozlan (via Twitter).

Holiday, who was traded from Milwaukee to Portland in late September before being re-routed to Boston on October 1, is a two-time All-Star and five-time All-Defensive team member. The Celtics were limited to offering Holiday a two-year extension until April 1, when the six-month post-trade restriction lifted.

Chris Mannix of SI.com hears (via Twitter) the Celtics and Holiday “have been thrilled” with their partnership, and Boston knew it would take a lucrative long-term deal in order to retain the veteran guard and have him avoid free agency.

Interestingly, Holiday’s new extension is essentially an exact replica of the four-year, $135MM extension he signed three years ago with Milwaukee, per Wojnarowski. Holiday, 33, becomes the fourth player in league history to sign a guaranteed $100MM+ contract at 33 years old or older, joining LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Al Horford.

Since he’s often a fourth or fifth option on offense for Boston, Holiday’s scoring (12.5 PPG) and assists (4.9 APG) are down this season. However, he’s averaging a career-high 5.4 rebounds per game while shooting a career-best 43.1% from deep in 68 games (32.9 MPG).

Indeed, B/R chirps in that Kornet could get a FA Offer that the C's just can't match whereas their feeling is that Tillman despite his defensive chops won't get the $ Kornet could command based on his size, offense & unfinished development. Here's the take on each according to B/R:

Luke Kornet (Unrestricted)

While the Celtics didn't leave their interior rotation entirely untouched this season, the fact they didn't feel the need to make a major move for more protection behind Kristaps Porziņģis and Al Horford could be viewed as a vote of confidence in Luke Kornet.

The 7'2", 250-pounder has more than held his own as a rotation regular and is quietly producing perhaps the finest season of his career.

His numbers won't blow you away—5.1 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 15.4 minutes—but his activity and efficiency are clear positives. His 69.9 field-goal percentage, for instance, is tops on the team by a wide margin. His 19.0 player efficiency rating, per Basketball-Reference, easily surpasses the metric's average of 15.0. His minus-2.9 net differential, per NBA.com, doesn't sound great, but it's essentially just a reflection of how good the bigs in front of him are, since his net rating is a robust plus-9.4 points per 100 possessions.

He is someone the Celtics should want to keep. The question is whether they can afford him. They'll be in the second apron next season, so they'll have to carefully manage their finances, particularly when it comes to fleshing out the roster around their stars. Kornet is helpful to have, but is he a necessity? That probably hinges on how the market views him.

Prediction: Kornet signs with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Xavier Tillman (Unrestricted)

At the trade deadline, the Celtics parted with Lamar Stevens and a pair of future second-round picks to pry Xavier Tillman out of Memphis. Boston should be generally pleased with how he has played since.

His offensive game can be hit or miss, but he enhances this frontcourt's versatility on defense. He can toggle between the 4 and 5 spots while possessing enough mobility to keep up with perimeter players and enough strength to bang with bigs. He also offers a bit of defensive playmaking as a career supplier of nearly three combined steals and blocks per 36 minutes, per Basketball-Reference.

Since he doesn't have great size (6'8") or much shooting range (26.3 percent from deep for his career), he can be a bit of a tricky fit on offense. A team with as much starpower as the Celtics can work around that. Clubs without the same kind of offensive weaponry could find that more challenging.

Through that lens, it might be harder for him to get a sizable pay raise than it is for Kornet, which could wind up settling this debate for Boston. If Kornet finds more money than the Celtics are willing to pay, Tillman could loom as the more cost-efficient option to keep, and since he's younger (and theoretically still developing) and more versatile on defense, it's possible he could wind up handling a bigger role than Kornet has filled.

Prediction: Tillman re-signs with the Celtics.