Get to know Bucks guard Jrue Holiday, who is an Olympic gold medalist and teammate of the year for second time
Jrue #Jrue
Jrue Holiday is in his second year with Milwaukee Bucks and has made an immediate impact on and off the court. Get to know Holiday here.
How long has Jrue Holiday been on the Bucks?
He’s in his second season with the Bucks. He was the key piece in a four-team trade prior to the 2020-21 season 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.
Has Holiday 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.
Milwaukee Bucks guard Jrue Holiday (21) keeps his eye on the ball after stealing it from Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (on the floor) during the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the Bucks’ 123-119 win over the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals at the Footprint Center in Phoenix on July 17, 2021.
Jrue Holiday had steal, lobbed alley-oop to Giannis in Game 5 of NBA Finals
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).
He had one of the signature moments in the 2021 NBA Finals when he ripped the ball away from Suns guard Devin Booker in the closing seconds of Game 5 with the Bucks clinging to a 120-119 lead. Seconds later, he lobbed an alley-oop to Giannis Antetokounmpo with 13:5 seconds left.
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
Jrue Holiday’s age
31 years old
What is Jrue Holiday’s contract?
He signed a four-year contract extension with the Bucks in April 2021 that can be worth up to $160 million.
Jrue Holiday averaged 6.8 assists this season as the Bucks starting point guard.
What were Jrue Holiday’s stats in 2021-22?
67 games, 18.3 points per game, 4.5 rebounds, 6.8 assists, 1.6 steals, 50.1% shooting, 41.1% from three-point range, 76.1% from the free-throw line.
Lauren Holiday is Jrue Holiday’s wife and former U.S. soccer player
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.
Story continues
Jrue and Lauren Holiday stared the Jrue and Lauren Holiday Social Justice Impact Fund in 2020 to help underserved communities and Black-owned businesses.
Jrue and Lauren Holiday created Social Justice Impact Fund
Jrue and 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.
Jrue Holiday and teammate Khris Middleton won an Olympic gold medal as a member of Team USA last summer in Tokyo.
Jrue Holiday won NBA teammate of year for second time, member of Team USA
Won NBA’s Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award for the second time in three seasons.
Holiday won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He played with Bucks teammate Khris Middleton.
Won the league’s sportsmanship award in 2021, which is voted on by the players.
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.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Jrue Holiday had alley-oop to Giannis in NBA Finals, teammate of year