New Orleans Pelicans: 3 reasons to keep Jrue Holiday
By Eliot Clough
3. Youth
With the trade of Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans started with an overhaul of youth for the 2019-2020 season — Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball age 22 and Josh Hart age 24. Then came the draft in which Zion Williamson and Jaxson Hayes age 19 and Nickeil Walker-Alexander age 21 were acquired.
All those names make up 35 percent of the roster. And that doesn’t include 21-year-old Frank Jackson and 24-year-olds Zylan Cheatham and Jahlil Okafor.
With the squad in New Orleans being as laden with youth as it is, it simply wouldn’t make sense to ship out a guy who has been with the team since 2013. A guy who has been with the franchise longer than any other member on the roster by multiple seasons. A guy who has been in the league longer than a large part of the roster has been out of middle school.
The topic can’t go on without saying that there are several other players on the roster that can provide the experience and leadership a young team so desperately needs. JJ Redick and Derrick Favors have made their rounds in the NBA but Redick is 35.
It’s not so easy to relate to the 19-year-old kid fresh out of college when you’ve been playing at the highest level for almost 15 years. Plus, neither of these guys have been with the franchise more than the current year.
Holiday is the perfect mixture of years in the NBA, experience in New Orleans and having played with a superstar. Trading the veteran leader and mainstay in New Orleans wouldn’t be good for the franchise as it sits.