'Your favorite player's favorite player:' Jrue Holiday embodies Olympic spirit

LAS VEGAS - Take one look at the United States' star-studded men's basketball team, and you'll see a through line of prolific production.

Among the 12 players originally selected to represent the U.S. at the 2024 Olympics, 11 were named All-Stars during the 2023-24 NBA season. Each averaged at least 19.3 points per game.

Among the four selected players aged 34 or older, three - LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant - averaged between 25.7 points and 27.1 points per game. Those three players each have at least 10 All-Star appearances and 10 All-NBA selections to their name.

Then there's Jrue Holiday. The 34-year-old averaged 12.5 points last season and was not named a 2024 All-Star. In fact, Holiday is a mere two-time All-Star who's never made an All-NBA team in his 15-year career. Yet you can argue no American baller better exemplifies the Olympic spirit.

For as much as that spirit has been defined by the phrase, "Faster, higher, stronger," the International Olympic Committee has since added the word "together" while trumpeting the Olympic values of excellence, respect, and friendship. Embodying those values while competing at the highest level isn't easy, but no one checks all the boxes like Holiday.

The Hall of Famer who selected this year's team needed no convincing. "(Holiday) was a top priority for us this summer," Grant Hill, the men's national team managing director, told theScore before an exhibition victory over Canada. "He may not have the name or sizzle as others, but what he does, who he is, his approach, what he represents, it's everything we want for USA Basketball."

Holiday's career arc tells the story of sustained two-way excellence, perseverance, humility, and sacrifice.

It was derailed in 2016 when Holiday took a leave to care for his wife, Lauren, after the American soccer great was diagnosed with a brain tumor while pregnant with the couple's first child. "I'm obviously blessed to play this game and be in the position I am in, but my wife is the most important thing in the world to me," Holiday said at the time. "She comes before anything else."

It's that type of perspective and grace Holiday's peers have come to admire. But his on-court career speaks volumes, too.

He's a defensive point guard who became a 40% 3-point shooter in his 30s after spending his 20s at 35%. A six-time All-Defensive selection whose offensive abilities have always flown under the radar, Holiday once averaged 21.2 points per game. Five of his All-Defensive seasons also came in years he averaged 17-plus points.

His two All-Star appearances came a decade apart - in 2013 as the youngest All-Star in 76ers history and in 2023 as the oldest Bucks All-Star in 41 years. After earning the last of those nods for averaging 19.3 points on a 58-win Bucks team, Holiday happily accepted a role as the fifth option on a juggernaut Celtics squad that went on to win the title. That victory gave him a second championship ring in four years to go along with the Olympic gold medal he won in 2021.

Over the last five years, he's won the Teammate of the Year award three times and won the NBA Sportsmanship Award in 2021. He owns the league's highest win percentage (minimum 300 games played) over the last four seasons. During that time, he's been involved in trades that netted his former teams Damian Lillard, Eric Bledsoe, Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams, and a combined six first-round draft picks. He's also signed multiple nine-figure contracts in his 30s.

It's for all those reasons, and countless others, Hill likes to say Holiday is "your favorite player's favorite player."

"He's a selfless guy. All he cares about is winning. He does the little things. He stands out without trying to stand out," Hill said.

Perhaps Hill sees a bit of himself in Holiday - not in their star status, size, or style of play, but in their steely nature. As a three-time winner of the NBA Sportsmanship Award himself, Hill knows all too well how labels like "sportsman" and "good teammate" can overshadow one's competitive fire.

"Don't mistake kindness for weakness," Hill said. "You can be a gentleman like Jrue and still be a fierce competitor. He's shown that you can do it with grace, dignity, and class at the highest of levels. We're looking at who he is off the court and what he does on the court, and his combination of those things is superior. It's elite. And we're lucky to have him."

To appreciate just how lucky the Americans are to have Holiday, consider that his inclusion might've helped secure the services of Anthony Davis.

The superstar big man spent six years with Holiday in New Orleans, during which time he grew to admire everything the point guard represents. "He's one of my best friends in this league. It just feels right to be his teammate again," Davis told theScore after beating Canada in Las Vegas. "Our families are really close, and to be honest, I told my wife I'll do (the Olympics) if Jrue does it. I'm just happy to be his teammate again."

When asked to explain what makes Holiday the league's best teammate, Davis had no shortage of answers. "His unselfishness. He has no ego; he just wants to win. He should have multiple Defensive Player of the Year awards, but he just wants to win."

Not one to revel in the spotlight, Holiday had a tougher time answering that same question. "I don't know," Holiday said. "I have no clue. I go out there, I feel like I don't complain, just try to do my job, and get the (team's) job done.

"At the end of the day, I'm trying to make everybody around me better, no matter what that means. I feel like having that type of mentality is how you win games and how you win championships."

Perhaps the world's most underrated baller, it's no coincidence Holiday essentially served as the missing piece to championship puzzles in Boston and Milwaukee.

His two-way work in the 2024 Finals was sensational. Holiday averaged 14.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 3.8 assists on 54-42-100 shooting while providing the stiffest defensive challenge for Mavericks superstars Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic; quick and sound enough on the perimeter to deter the former, strong enough on switches to stand the latter up. He also served as the undersized - but never overmatched - center of Boston's 2-3 zone throughout the season.

"He's a high-character guy who plays the right way on both ends of the floor," Jayson Tatum, his Celtics-turned-USA teammate, said. "He's somebody you can plug into any system and any team."

That's why even on this unfathomably loaded American squad, Holiday won't just be along for the ride in Paris. He'll be starting. He'll also be terrorizing opposing guards all tournament long, as he did to Canadians Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray in the team's first exhibition game.

Devin Booker, who started with Holiday that night, is thrilled to be on Holiday's side again rather than competing against him. Holiday's defensive work on Booker and Chris Paul helped Milwaukee defeat the Suns in the 2021 Finals. Days later, Holiday and Booker were Olympic teammates, helping the Americans to another gold medal.

"He does everything," Booker told theScore. "He makes no mistakes. He's a big reason why Milwaukee and Boston have won championships, and he was a big part of winning gold in Tokyo. He's a winner through and through."

A winner who plays mistake-free basketball. A selfless, two-way guard. A leader and sportsman revered by his peers. Every team on the planet needs a Jrue Holiday.

Unfortunately for the rest of the world, there's only one.

Joseph Casciaro is theScore's lead Raptors and NBA reporter.