If you were holding out hope for a Jrue Holiday buyout with the Portland Trail Blazers, followed by a reunion with the Philadelphia 76ers, you can officially put those dreams to rest, at least for now.
While the online speculation about that situation seemed far-fetched to begin with, the NBA insider Marc Stein still felt the need to do some digging just to make sure a credible person in the know wasn't anonymously tossing some truth out via an NBA aggregation account.
The obvious about Jrue Holiday is confirmed
"Erroneous" was the word to describe the Holiday buyout speculation.
"It has become a popular online pastime to suggest that such an arrangement is percolating that helps route Holiday back to the team that drafted him — which obviously fancies itself as a Superteam now after the Sixers acquired Brown and James — but league sources say Portland is not about to just usher Holiday onto the open market," Stein wrote in a late-night intel dump on Monday.
Keeping Holiday seemed like the logical move since the Blazers squeezed their way into the postseason in 2026. Entering the 2025-2026 NBA season, Portland looked like they had at least one rebuilding year left in them. Then, when Damian Lillard returned to action, they could start to turn things around. Well, they are in a faster lane than expected. Holiday might not be an every-year All-Star, but he's a total game-changer.
As Stein reported, the Blazers have sent a signal to suitors, making it clear that they want to keep Holiday. Cutting ties with the veteran guard via buyout never made sense--especially considering Holiday would have a pretty competitive trade market if he was made available.
Should the Sixers give the Blazers a call anyway?
I'm all for GMs doing due diligence. A little window-shopping never hurts a franchise. And even though the Sixers have more pressing needs on their roster, I think they would much rather have Jrue Holiday backing up Tyrese Maxey than the rookie Labaron Philon. That's no disrespect to the first-rounder out of Alabama, but Holiday's proven championship value could go a long way for this Sixers team.
But the Sixers would have to put contracts together to match the $34.8 million salary that Holiday has on the books. Then, they'll have to worry about him picking up a $37.2 million deal for the 2027-2028 season. Unless that unlikely buyout scenario happens, Jrue Holiday isn't getting to the City of Brotherly Love for a sequel run.
Add us as a preferred source on Google