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On Sunday, the Milwaukee Bucks signed starting point guard Jrue Holiday to a four-year extension worth $160 million, a deal that would keep him in a Bucks jersey until the end of 2024-2025. While Holiday has been productive in his first season in Milwaukee, the deal still raised some eyebrows because of how big it seemed.
But even though the 30-year-old guard’s extension seems large at first, details about the deal reveal that a significant part of it is in bonuses that are non-guaranteed. According to The Athletic’s Eric Nehm, Holiday’s $160 million deal includes roughly $25 million in bonuses. While $4.1 million of those bonuses are considered as likely for Holiday to have, the $20.9 million in bonuses is an amount that he is unlikely to receive.
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Unlikely bonuses, Nehm goes on to explain, are negotiated incentives when a player reaches team goals or individual accomplishments that they didn’t reach the previous season. With $25 million on the deal considered as non-guaranteed, the guaranteed amount from the one-time All-Star’s contract is just at roughly $135 million for four seasons, with the final year of the deal including a player option.
A $135 million deal over four years for the Bucks’ third-best player behind Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton seems more reasonable, especially considering how well Holiday has played with the team’s two All-Stars. In 38 games, the former Sixers and Pelicans point guard has averaged 17 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.8 steals while shooting 50.9% from the field and 39% from beyond the arc.
With the reigning MVP and Defensive Player of the Year and Middleton locked up for the foreseeable future, the Bucks also made the move to secure Holiday for several years, making sure that the team’s core would remain intact for years to come.
