Jrue Holiday Explains How He Found Out He Was Being Traded

Holiday broke it down as a guest on Draymond Green's podcast.

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Jrue Holiday visited The Draymond Green Show for an episode released on Tuesday. The two-time All-Star was asked how he found out he was headed to Portland as part of the deal that sent Damian Lillard to Milwaukee. Holiday, who spent three years with the Bucks and was a pivotal part of their 2021 NBA championship roster, revealed he was napping when the October blockbuster went down. Apparently it was a deep sleep.

Once fully awake, Holiday said that things moved pretty quickly. Reflecting on the process, the current Boston Celtics point guard wishes it would have gone down differently. Specifically, he would have appreciated more of a heads-up considering what he did for Milwaukee's franchise.

"For me, it was just a shock because at least let me know 24 hours in advance, not five minutes in advance," Holiday said. "Maybe I'm asking for too much. I won there."

"At least let me know 24 hours in advance, not 5 minutes in advance"

— Jrue Holiday tells @Money23Green how he found out he's getting traded for Dame pic.twitter.com/kkIqLHn3A9

— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) March 26, 2024

This is perfectly understandable. No one likes to be blindsided. But there's probably a very good reason front office decision-makers don't loop in the players involved in a tentative trade with any urgency. It seems like it would be pretty awkward if the deal in question later fell through. And one can question how much of a difference 23 extra hours would really make.

At the end of the day, the person traded is going to care more about where and why they are going than the way they heard the news. There's really no good way to tell someone something they don't want to hear.

Kyle Koster is an editor at The Big Lead.