Justin Holiday – Indiana Pacers
While he may not be a big name or a franchise-altering talent, Justin Holiday is definitely a low-cost option that the Jazz could turn to in order to add some more depth on the wing at the trade deadline this season.
About a month ago, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that the Indiana Pacers were heading towards a rebuild and would be receptive to listening to trade offers for their star players. While management and ownership has shot down talks about this team looking to “rebuild”, they will definitely be looking to make some roster changes.
It is possible that players such as Domantas Sabonis, Caris LeVert and/or Myles Turner could be on the move, but getting future value for a veteran like Justin Holiday could make a lot of sense for the Pacers as well.
Turning 33-years-old in April, Holiday is now in his 9th NBA season and has played really well in Indiana over the years. Since joining the Pacers ahead of the 2019-20 season, Justin Holiday has averaged 9.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.0 steals and has shot 38.7% from three-point range.
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Being an experienced “3-and-D” player on the perimeter, Justin Holiday could fill the role of being an impactful wing defender off-the-bench, who also happens to be able to shoot from distance. The Jazz have been one of the best three-point shooting teams in the league through the years, but it is hard to pinpoint where exactly they can get production from defensively outside of Gobert and Conley.
This team really needs another wing defender and Shams Charania reported in the past that the Utah Jazz are searching for a “defensive-minded wing” ahead of the trade deadline. Justin Holiday is not the best defender in the league and is nothing more than a role player, but the Jazz have a $7.4M TPE that they can use to absorb his contract and he could easily be someone they turn to for 15-25 minutes of production on any given night.
Leveraging some young assets like Eric Paschall and Udoka Azubuike, two players that are not in the main rotation for the Jazz, for Justin Holiday could make things very easy for Utah to acquire the veteran wing.
