Jrue Holiday says he would like to retire with Bucks
Holiday, who celebrated his 33rd birthday June 12, went beyond just saying he’s not going to hang up his sneakers after the 2024-25 season. He’s extension-eligible with the Bucks in the winter, and he is open to signing one. “Would love to,” he said. “Before I even won here I think I said I’m a Buck for life and I mean that like deep in my heart. I don’t want to play for any other team. I think we have a chance to continue to do great things as the Bucks team and organization so I want to be in Milwaukee.”
Source: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Source: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
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Jim Owczarski @JimOwczarski
No, Jrue Holiday is not retiring, but he does want to end his career with the Milwaukee #Bucks jsonline.com/story/sports/n… via @journalsentinel – 6:46 AM
No, Jrue Holiday is not retiring, but he does want to end his career with the Milwaukee #Bucks jsonline.com/story/sports/n… via @journalsentinel – 6:46 AM
More on this storyline
Some felt Holiday’s retirement following a 2024-25 player option as a certainty, giving the Bucks a firm two-year window with their “Big Three” and/or “Core Four” with Lopez anchoring the middle. So, yeah, about the retirement thing… “No, I don’t plan on retiring. I don’t plan on retiring,” Holiday told the Journal Sentinel, leaning back on an orange leather couch set back off the balcony of SRGN Studios in Los Angeles. “Just them being my friends and we’ve talked about stages in basketball and sometimes you go through modes or hard spots where like, even with my family, maybe the best thing to do is retire or even just being tired and being exhausted, playing a lot of basketball. But no. “My answer is no, I’m not retiring.” -via Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel / September 26, 2023
Besides the obvious of having a healthy roster in the playoffs, what can a new coach do for Holiday when the playoff responsibilities on defense and offense only intensify with each passing game and series? “I think he might be a little hard on himself,” coach Adrian Griffin told the Journal Sentinel, with a bit of a laugh. “We’ve had some intense battles and Jrue was always extremely difficult to stop. “I would just say this. One of our team mantras this year is ‘we’re stronger together.’ We have a lot of individual talent and I want everyone to just know that this is a brotherhood, and no one is an island on their own. And they don’t have to do it alone. Jrue is more than enough. Giannis more than enough. Khris is more than enough. Brook. Everyone. If they just bring what they bring to the table, we’re going to be in good shape. But we have to do it collectively. -via Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel / September 26, 2023
One curveball to the game requirement rule is that if a player plays less than 20 minutes, the game does not count toward the criteria. However, if during the regular season, a player plays less than 20 minutes but at least 15 minutes in two games, those games count (this is to avoid players making a token appearance to hit a games played requirement, like Jrue Holiday did in the season finale in 2021-22) -via ESPN / September 17, 2023