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Celtics send Jrue Holiday to Trail Blazers for Anfernee Simons

Boston lightens its tax bill by sending the point guard of its 2023-24 championship team to Portland.

From NBA.com News Services

Anfernee Simons averaged a career-high 22.6 points per game last season before following up with 19.3 in 2024-25.

Facing what is expected to be an offseason of significant change, Boston took a key step in reshaping its championship roster with a trade. In the swap, the Celtics send veteran point guard Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers.. The teams officially announced the trade on July 7.

Celtics get:

  • Anfernee Simons

Trail Blazers get:

  • Jrue Holiday

Holiday, 35, played two seasons in Boston, helping the Celtics win their 18th championship in 2023-24 before Jayson Tatum’s torn Achilles doomed them to a second-round exit against New York this spring.

Ironically, Holiday was briefly a Trail Blazer after his part in their deal with Milwaukee for Damian Lillard in 2023 before the Celtics acquired him less than a week later. Boston was lifting another trophy within the year, in no small part due to Holiday’s stout defense and unselfish team play.

Simons, meanwhile, developed into a respectable scoring threat in his seven seasons with the Blazers, averaging at least 17.3 points per game in each of the past four.

The 26-year-old shoots 38.1% on 6.5 3-point attempts per game for his career, a skill that will fit seamlessly with an aggressive Celtics team that led the league in long-range makes and shots last season.

The Celtics will miss the defense and leadership that Holiday provided. The two-time Olympic gold medalist’s scoring was down though, with the 11.1 points he averaged last season his lowest since his rookie season in 2009-10, and more than eight points lower than the 19.3 ppg he put up in 2022-23 with the Bucks, when he was an All-Star.

More than that, the Celtics were likely motivated to trade Holiday because of the $104.4 million owed to him over the remaining three seasons of the contract extension they gave him last year, on top of the huge deals for Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

Per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the trade will also provide an estimated $40 million in tax savings for the Celtics.

Holiday, who helped the Bucks win the 2021 NBA title, has averaged 15.8 ppg in a 16-year career that also includes stints with the Philadelphia 76ers and New Orleans Pelicans.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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