Miami Heat rumors: 3 trade targets for sought-after final piece
No. 1: Jrue Holiday
New Orleans Pelicans‘ guard Jrue Holiday has been considered a trade target for months. After New Orleans traded franchise centerpiece Anthony Davis and opted to rebuild around young players, many thought that Holiday would soon be on the move, or at least available for trade.
Yet, despite the Pelicans not showing an urgent desire to trade Holiday, teams might be interested in acquiring him.
With the team finally coming together and being just four games out of eighth place after a sluggish start to the season, New Orleans might not look to move Holiday. Yet, for the right price, it’s the smart move for them. They aren’t championship contenders right now, so moving a veteran for younger players makes sense.
Out of the three players reportedly on the radar of the Miami Heat, Holiday would be the best option. He is the youngest player at 29 years old and the best defender by a country mile. He’s solid on offense, too, scoring 19.6 points on 43.8 percent from the field. He also shoots 34.2 percent on 3-pointers with 2.0 made triples per game on top of averaging 6.5 assists per game.
Acquiring Holiday would bring a similar problem that DeRozan would bring: an offensive game too similar to Jimmy Butler’s. Though not as poor a shooter as DeRozan, he would compromise some of Miami’s spacing. Still, having Holiday’s defense next to Butler would be nightmare fuel for opponents.
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Holiday made last year’s All-Defensive second team and was on the first team the year before that.
He is currently owed $26 million this year and next year and then has a $27 million player option in the summer of 2021. That summer could see plenty of elite free agents, such as Giannis Antetokounmpo. Even though Holiday would help the Heat, taking on $27 in his name when he’s 31 years old most likely won’t be money well spent.
A trade for Jrue Holiday could be worth it if New Orleans’ asking price is low, but since they’re looking to be competitive this year and in the near future, it won’t be.
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Although the Heat seems to be in need of a boost to be true title contenders, Aldridge, DeRozan, and Holiday aren’t worth it. The boost they would give Miami isn’t enough to warrant trading away any of the key young players.