Marcus Smart and Jrue Holiday remain intertwined, for their battle in the 2022 playoffs that featured a memorable play where Holiday threw the ball off Smart out-of-bounds to secure Game 5, for their shared community work and for their similar playing styles. No rival more closely resembled the everlasting hustle style that Smart embodied more than Holiday.
Following the Damian Lillard-for-Jrue Holiday trade on Wednesday, the Celtics now have a chance to replace the departed Smart with his basketball doppelganger. Holiday looks like the player the Celtics need to address a lack of point guard playmaking, intangible and physical concerns remaining on a roster that should otherwise pull ahead of the field given their talent level.