Price to trade for Jrue Holiday is pretty high

Feb 6, 2021; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Milwaukee Bucks guard Jrue Holiday (21) drives to the basket against Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton (2) during the first quarter at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Jrue Holiday was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers as part of a blockbuster three-team deal that sent Damian Lillard to Milwaukee this week. Holiday is almost certainly going to be re-routed elsewhere by the Blazers. The question now is what team will acquire him, and how much it will cost.

The Athletic’s Jared Weiss published an article on Friday and said the Boston Celtics will be pursuing Holiday. Weiss said that the price to acquire Holiday will likely be at least two first-round draft picks.

A report on Thursday said that in addition to the Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Clippers have interest in acquiring Holiday.

Boston tried to trade Malcolm Brogdon to the Clippers in the offseason, but the deal fell apart. The Celtics are still looking to trade him, while the Sixers want to trade James Harden. Perhaps a deal could be arranged that would involve some of those players, and some picks going to Portland.

Holiday, 33, is one of the best defensive players in the NBA. He also provides plenty of scoring and averaged 19.3 points and 7.4 assists per game last year.

Though Milwaukee considered Lillard to be an upgrade over him, Holiday is still very desired around the NBA, particularly among teams looking to compete for a championship.