NBA Trade Deadline 2020: The 20 best players available

2. Jrue Holiday — G, New Orleans Pelicans — Salary of $26,131,111

Holiday is flat-out a monster. He is one of the best defensive players in the league, capable of swallowing anyone short of the league’s biggest centers. He has a positive track record, on the defensive end, against Kevin Durant, and that is about the highest praise one can offer a basketball player. He blocks shots, steals the ball, plays positionally, helps out, rotates brilliantly, and thinks ahead of anyone. He is one of the best, and most underrated, defenders of the past five years. He put the clamps on Damian Lillard in 2018 in one of the best playoff performances on the defensive end of recent memory. Holiday is made for the playoffs.

And on the offensive end, Holiday can fit in almost seamlessly. He can threaten teams as an on-ball commander, running the pick-and-roll, creating for others, and finishing in the paint. He’s a decent pull-up shooter and a good spot-up shooter. He could play off the ball if his acquiring team already has a great point guard. He is subtly effective at connecting passes, screening, cutting, and all the other off-ball skills that make a point guard so threatening after he gives up the ball. Holiday does it all, and though his numbers are down, and he has a high turnover rate, those are acceptable limitations. He’s not among the best offensive players in the league, even if he can look like it in some games.

The thing is, the Pelicans are actually close to the playoff race themselves, and they’re about to get Zion Williamson back. Holiday may not be for sale, even if he doesn’t match the team’s long-term timeline. He makes a lot of money, but he is a brilliant player. If anyone pries him out of New Orleans, it will be for a king’s ransom. But if either Los Angeles team, the Denver Nuggets, or the Philadelphia 76ers acquire him, they would become instant championship favorites.