Jrue Holiday Linked to 76ers, Celtics, Heat and Clippers

The Trail Blazers managed to trade Damian Lillard, sending him to the Bucks in a three-team deal with the Suns.

Now, it seems, they are aiming to move Jrue Holiday — acquired from Milwaukee — as well. Portland is focused on its young guard core of No. 3 overall pick Scoot Henderson, Anfernee Simons, and Shaedon Sharpe. So that leaves little room for Holiday, as much of a winner as he is.

And it’s his ability to lead and win that makes him appealing to so many contenders. The list reportedly includes the 76ers, Celtics, and Heat, who struck out on Lillard.

Of all these, perhaps the Sixers would make the most sense. They are trying to avoid a messy situation at training camp and the preseason with James Harden, who also requested a trade, specifically to the Clippers.

As Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, the Sixers could land Holiday and send Harden to the Clippers, with picks and perhaps random pieces going back to the Blazers. Then again, maybe the Clippers will just end up going after Holiday, wrote Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.

Also, the Celtics very well could explore a pursuit of Holiday, per Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe. They too have a sticky situation on their hands with Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon, who reportedly is upset with how the team handled his elbow injury.

Interestingly, the Celtics tried to trade Brogdon to the Clippers, but the deal ended up getting nixed, supposedly because of that very elbow.

Anyway, it’s just another day in the NBA, where another key player is almost always on the move. For now, Holiday is the man so many teams would like to land.

But if takes the Blazers anywhere near as long to trade Holiday as it took to trade Lillard … well, let’s just say it may not happen overnight.