The Boston Celtics made a huge move recently when they acquired star guard Jrue Holiday to play a key role in leading the Celtics offense. Apparently, the Celtics have company in their desire to have Holiday on their team. USA Basketball would also like to have Holiday join their effort, and that organization is aggressively pursuing him.

NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill is pursuing the 33-year-old Holiday with quite a bit of fervor. The new Celtic has not made up his mind at this point, but he is giving the matter strong consideration.

The team is expected to include LeBron James, Durant, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid and Jayson Tatum, but the addition of Holiday would give Team USA a stronger defensive presence. Team USA described Holiday as a “beloved” member of the 2021 team that won the gold medal in Tokyo. Holiday was considered to be the second-most impactful player on the team after Kevin Durant.

One of the primary reasons that many of the league's superstars are interested in playing for Team USA is because of the poor performance in this summer's FIBA world championships in the Philippines. The feeling among team executives is that Holiday plays the kind of aggressive on-ball defense and he also excels at playmaking and leadership. As a result, he would be a strong addition to the Olympic effort.

During the 2021 gold medal run, Jrue Holiday was regularly assigned to the opponents top guards, and he responded with a physical brand of defense that effectively short-circuited any opportunity to stop Team USA.