Celtics' Jrue Holiday: A high-level trash talker turned silent assassin

LOS ANGELES, CA — NBA and Olympic star Jrue Holiday is a legitimate silent assassin on the basketball court. The Boston Celtics and Team USA star won't do much trash talking on the court, but he will come out and destroy your team on both ends of the court.

But he wasn't always that silent assassin.

High School Jrue Holiday

Growing up in Chatsworth, California, a suburban neighborhood in the northwestern section of Los Angeles, Holiday was a major trash talker in high school. In fact, it was so bad that he received a stern talking to about it.

The Celtics guard credits his parents, who raised three boys that went on to play in the NBA, as the individuals who made a sizable impact on his basketball career.

“They were there for everything, they had a big impact,” Jrue Holiday told ClutchPoints in an exclusive interview at an offseason workout before the 2024 Paris Olympics. “They were our biggest supporters. They kept our head on straight, made sure we didn't get in trouble.”

Jrue Holiday has played 15 seasons in the NBA, Justin Holiday has played 11 seasons, and youngest brother Aaron Holiday has played six seasons.

Both of Holiday's parents played basketball at Arizona State, and Jrue says the work ethic he developed came from his father.

“I mean, my dad was there for every workout, every basketball game, and even to this day, he's here today, so I think to be able to have that support from my dad, who also is a gym rat and somebody that I learned from, how to kind of be a professional in terms of always wanting to be in the gym and stay in the gym, I had a pretty good role model.”

It didn't matter if he played for the Sixers, Pelicans, Bucks, or Celtics, everyone quickly learned that Jrue Holiday was about nothing but basketball when he stepped foot on a court. His sole focuses are to slow down the opposing team's best player, wreak havoc defensively, and create for others offensively. When you watch Jrue Holiday, there's also not much trash talk coming from him.

Holiday, who attended high school at Campbell Hall in Studio City, California with his brother Justin, says he was a big trash talker back the in the day — disrespectful, even.

“I think in high school, I was a bit wild,” Holiday said. “I would yell at people. If it was my teammates, the referees, or if it was the crowd, I'd get pretty disrespectful. My parents would definitely reprimand me and I think just growing and maturing and knowing that you can't speak to people like that, even if you're in competition, is something that I eventually learned. Throughout the league, I did my best to kind of push my competition to the floor and show it through my work.”

Holiday dominated his high school basketball career, capping it off with a senior year where he averaged 25.9 points, 11.2 rebounds, 6.9 assists, and 4.8 steals per game. He led his team to a 31-5 record that season, ultimately winning the California Div. IV State Championship.

But it was the changes he made to his on-court etiquette in high school and going into college that changed his demeanor as well as his approach to basketball.

“My parents were big in that,” Holiday explained to ClutchPoints. “They were reminding me that every time I step out there, I was not only representing myself, but I was also representing my brothers, representing them, representing Jesus Christ. I was going at people for no reason in high school and when I got to college, I calmed down a bit. I still do it, but I try to be a bit more conversational now and really get to know people.

“I don't know, maybe I just thought being respectful to people is the best way to do it. I used to talk trash and do all that, which is cool, and sometimes it'd get me going, but I think I kind of found another way to get myself going, you know. I'm really just trying to be a silent assassin.”

That's exactly what Jrue Holiday has been. Opposing team's players still hate to go up against him, but enjoy getting to know him on the court.

If you ask anybody in NBA circles about Holiday — the only three-time Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year winner in NBA history — they'll tell you he's a joy to be around and work with.

“Oh, I love chatting it up with Jrue,” Kyrie Irving told ClutchPoints during the NBA Finals.

Just don't let Holiday's parents see this.

“Don't tell them that [they ended up right],” the Celtics guard joked.

Olympic Jrue Holiday

It's been a whirlwind of a year for Jrue Holiday. From the Bucks-Blazers and Blazers-Celtics trades just days before NBA training camp was set to begin to winning his second NBA Championship in four seasons, Holiday has had virtually no time off.

And then Holiday followed that Celtics' title run with a two week ‘break' to get through the Championship celebrations with teammates and family before joining Team USA for their training camp ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

A non-stop worker, the last year has really encapsulated who Jrue Holiday is as a player.

“I think you just do it,” Holiday said on how exhausting this whole year has been. “I've been hooping my whole life, so going through AAU and doing all that my whole life, playing year-round, it's just for the love of the game.”

There already aren't any egos for Holiday when it comes to basketball. All he cares about is winning. So when the opportunity presented itself to join LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Team USA, Holiday couldn't wait to get on the court.

“I think it's just about winning. We know what everybody can do, and we've seen them do it for a long time. But I think at this point, when you get talent like this, it's really about doing whatever it takes. So if you see Steph Curry next to you, I'm probably passing it to Steph so that he can get an open shot or if it's setting the screen or getting an offensive rebound. Sometimes, it's about doing the little things and just doing your best to help the teammate next to you.”

This 2024 Paris Olympics version of Team USA has been compared to the 2012 Redeem Team and even the 1992 Dream Team. And while the team doesn't necessarily have that moniker just yet, many have called this the ‘Avengers' and even jokingly called LeBron James, ‘Captain LeMerica.'

“That's an honor to be named within the same group as those guys because they paved the way for us. Everybody's seen the Redeem Team and the Dream Team, we've seen the documentaries, we've seen everything they've done. So I think just to be able to do that and kind of represent our country in the same way that they did is cool.”

The United States defeated Brazil in the quarterfinals on Tuesday evening. They advanced to the quarterfinals, where they'll take on Nikola Jokic and Serbia. The winner of that semifinal matchup will take on either France or Germany in the Gold Medal game this weekend.

Jrue Holiday could very well go about his business and walk away with both an NBA Championship with the Celtics and a Gold Medal with Team USA in the same summer.