Jrue Holiday played an instrumental role in the Boston Celtics winning a title in 2024. However, he will be 34 years old before the 2024-25 season starts, and he’s playing regular minutes for Team USA.
For that reason, he may not play as many regular season games as he did when he first joined the Celtics. MassLive’s Brian Robb explained in a July 26 mailbag how three Celtics’ short rest could affect how Mazzulla will handle their minutes, specifically Holiday.
“It’s going to be Joe Mazzulla’s biggest challenge in the first half of the season, particularly with training camp starting a week early due to the team’s international play. Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum, and Derrick White will barely be getting a month of total rest this offseason by the time the Olympics are done, creating a brutal turnaround for them,” Robb wrote. “Holiday is the tougher case, given his age. I (w)ould not be surprised to see him get some more planned nights off in the regular season this year to keep him from getting worn down.”
Holiday once missed substantial time in consecutive seasons when he played for the New Orleans Pelicans. However, he has managed to stay reasonably healthy for the past several seasons. At his age, it may be best to conserve him so that he’ll be ready for the postseason.
Jrue Holiday Suffered Shoulder Injury During 2023-24 Season
Again, Holiday is coming off a reasonably healthy season, playing 69 regular season games and every single playoff game. However, he didn’t go through the whole season unscathed. He suffered a shoulder injury when the Celtics played the Washington Wizards on March 17.
Holiday only missed five games as a result, but it was a scary moment nonetheless. As he ages, he will be more susceptible to injury. What doomed the previous Celtics championship team the following seasons was untimely injuries.
Luckily, Tatum and Jaylen Brown are still young, but supporting pieces like Holiday will only get older. The Celtics dealt with multiple injury scares from Kristaps Porzingis during their playoff run, and that will factor into the 2024-25 season. With Porzingis slated to miss some time recovering from ankle surgery, the Celtics will have to adapt to that.
They may have to do the same with Holiday. With him potentially missing games and playing a smaller role, that could open the door for Payton Pritchard and Jaden Springer.
Celtics Tried Similar Strategy With Al Horford
Conserving valuable rotation players is not a new strategy for the Celtics. Since 2022, they have done their best to conserve Al Horford during the regular season. They’ve done this by primarily resting him on back-to-backs. When Porzingis was healthy, that also helped them conserve Horford because he would come off the bench.
They likely won’t rest Holiday as much as they have with Horford because he’s not as old as Horford was. The Celtics re-acquired Horford after he basically took most of the 2020-21 season off with the Oklahoma City Thunder. So, he was at 100 percent capacity when he came back, even though he was 35.
Holiday could get more rest, but for now, he would likely play fewer minutes. His playoff role will likely remain the same. If the Celtics rest him more, that could play a factor in them going another substantial playoff run.
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