Why the Knicks should go all-in on Jrue Holiday

With the dust still settling from Wednesday’s blockbuster trade that sent Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers to join Giannis Antetokounmpo with the Milwaukee Bucks, another compelling storyline is still unfolding.

Where will Jrue Holiday end up?

Holiday, 33, is an NBA champion, a two-time All-Star and a three-time NBA All-Defensive First Team selection. Oh, and he won the NBA Sportsmanship Award two years ago. In other words: he’s a perfect fit for coach Tom Thibodeau and the Knicks.

Holiday is owed $36.9 million this season, is extension-eligible in February and will likely have a number of suitors, possibly including the Philadelphia 76ers, the Miami Heat and others looking to keep up in the NBA arms race.

If the Knicks go all-in on trading with the Blazers for Holiday, they could not only improve their team for this season, they may enhance their chances of landing a megastar — Joel Embiid anyone? — down the line.

“Maybe you wouldn’t be diminishing [the Embiid odds], maybe you’d be strengthening it,” ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst said on the Lowe Post podcast.

If the Knicks added Holiday as a backcourt complement to Jalen Brunson, it should only improve a team that reached the Eastern Conference semifinals a year ago.

Holiday could guard the opponent’s best offensive perimeter player, while also adding a potent offensive threat with career averages of 16.4 points, 6.5 assists and 4.1 rebounds.

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A Knicks trade package would likely center around the expiring contract of Evan Fournier, who told a French radio station he feels like he’s being “held hostage” in New York.

Windhorst suggested the Knicks could add Immanuel Quickley as “an incredible potential sweetener” in a Holiday deal, while dealing RJ Barrett or Mitchell Robinson is also something the Knicks could consider.

The Knicks, of course, have “eight tradeable first-round picks,” as Windhorst pointed out.

With so many assets, he added that, “The Knicks have enough assets to make two, depending on how they handle their business, to make two star-player trades.”

So even if they surrender a few picks in a Holiday deal, they would still have enough draft capital left to swing a deal for someone like Embiid down the line. Remember, Knicks President Leon Rose is Embiid’s former agent, and the Sixers haven’t won anything during Embiid’s tenure in Philadelphia.

“What you really need if you’re a team like the Knicks is for a player like Joel Embiid to say, ‘Make me a Knick,’” Windhorst said. “That’s what you need. And if getting Jrue Holiday pushes you in that direction, that’s something you’ve got to consider.”

Yes, it is. And now the Knicks have a chance to improve their team not just now but down the road as well.

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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.