Jrue Holiday Will Stay On The Pelicans To See What He Can Do With Anthony Davis And DeMarcus Cousins

Jrue Holiday has agreed to remain with the New Orleans Pelicans as another domino in the free agency point guard bonanza has fallen. The deal was agreed to on July 1, as reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (yeah, if it feels weird reading that, it’s still weird typing it too).

The deal is five years and $126 million and comes after there were reports of the Pacers, who finally flipped Paul George for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, courting the 27-year-old guard late into the Free Agency night.

Via Woj:

Coach Alvin Gentry has developed tremendous trust in Holiday to run the Pelicans. Holiday is known for his on-ball defense as well as slashing ability in the pick-and-roll.

Holiday, 27, became further bonded with the franchise and community via an outpouring of support that accompanied his family’s health crisis last season. Holiday missed most of training camp and 12 games to start the season to care for his ailing wife, Lauren, and their newborn child.

Lauren Holiday, a longtime member of the United States women’s national soccer team, gave birth to the couple’s daughter in late September and underwent surgery one month later to remove a benign tumor from the right side of her brain.

Holiday turned 27 earlier this month after averaging 15.4 points, 7.3 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game on 45 percent shooting and 36 percent from three during the 2016-2017 season.

The team is ready to run it back with talented big men Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins, the latter of whom they acquired in a noteworthy deal at the All-Star Break (in New Orleans!) last year. But the Pels aren’t done yet. They’re going to try and use free agency (or a trade) to improve at the guard position and further shore up their attempts to be a playoff team next season.

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