Get to know Bucks guard Jrue Holiday, who has been influential on and off the court in his first season in Milwaukee
Jrue #Jrue
Jrue Holiday is in his first year with Milwaukee Bucks and has made an immediate impact on and off the court. Get to know Holiday here.
How long has Holiday been on the Bucks?
He’s in his first season with the Bucks. He was the key piece in a four-team trade in the offseason that sent him to Milwaukee. The Bucks got Holiday and Sam Merrill (the 60th overall pick in the 2020 draft) from the Pelicans in exchange for Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, three future first-round picks and two additional draft picks.
Get daily updates on the Packers during the season.
Has he played for other teams?
Yes. He played for the Philadelphia 76ers (he was the 17th overall pick in the 2009 draft) for four seasons and then seven years with the New Orleans Pelicans.
Where is Holiday from?
He played college basketball at UCLA. He was born and raised in Los Angeles.
More: Who has the edge in three key matchups between the Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals? Here’s our take.
On the court, Holiday is known as a lock-down defender. Three times, he has been named to the NBA’s all-defensive team (first team in 2021 and 2019; second team in 2018). As a ball handler, Holiday has provided a steady hand to the Bucks’ offense, which set a franchise record for points scored in a season, and was top 10 in offensive efficiency.
Off the court, his accolades are even more noteworthy. He and his wife, Lauren, created the Jrue and Lauren Holiday Social Justice Impact Fund in 2020 to aid nonprofit organizations centered on social justice, historically Black colleges and universities and businesses created by Black entrepreneurs. In May 2021, the Holidays announced a second round of funding in which they would provide $1 million in grants to Black-led nonprofit organizations and Black-owned businesses. The focus of the grants would be in greater Milwaukee, New Orleans, Indianapolis and Los Angeles areas.
More: Jrue and Lauren Holiday pledge to make profound impact — both in Milwaukee and elsewhere — through social justice fund
How tall is Holiday?
6-foot-3
How old is he?
31 years old
17.7 points per game, 4.5 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 1.6 steals, 50.3% shooting, 39.2 from three-point range, 78.7% from the free-throw line.
MILWAUKEE BUCKS SCHEDULE: Here’s when the Bucks and Hawks play in the Eastern Conference Finals
Who’s Holiday’s family?
Holiday and his wife, Lauren, have two young children, JT and Hendricks. Lauren is a former professional soccer player who played for the U.S. women’s national soccer team from 2007-15. She won two Olympic gold medals and a World Cup title. Holiday’s brothers, Justin and Aaron, also play in the NBA.
Other facts about Holiday?
He won the league’s sportsmanship award in 2021, which is voted on by the players. Holiday won the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award as a member of the New Orleans Pelicans last season.
He signed a four-year contract extension with the Bucks in April that can be worth up to $160 million.
Holiday will be a member of Team USA at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
He made the All-Star team in 2013.
Holiday was the Gatorade National Player of the Year as a high school senior in 2008.
Contact Christopher Kuhagen at (262) 446-6634 or christopher.kuhagen@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ckuhagen and our newsroom Instagram accounts at MyCommunityNow and Lake Country Now.
Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Get to know Bucks guard Jrue Holiday, who has been influential on and off the court in his first season in Milwaukee