METAIRIE, La. -- Jrue Holiday couldn't hide his enthusiasm after first practice with the New Orleans Pelicans this season.
Holiday spent the past three months tending to his wife, former USWNT soccer player Lauren Holiday, as she recovered from their birth of the couple's daughter and surgery to remove a benign tumor from the right side of her brain. He said he was "excited" to play in his first game this season, Friday against the Portland Trail Blazers.
But he was more thrilled that his wife's recovery was far enough along that both felt comfortable with his return.