Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday. David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Jrue Holiday makes history with latest championship

By Sai Mohan | Last updated Jun 18, 2024 8:40 AM ET

There have been a lot of differing opinions about the Celtics' path to Banner No. 18. But the common consensus is that Jrue Holiday was the final, missing piece to their championship puzzle.

By winning his second NBA title on Monday, Holiday became the only player to go the distance in his first season with two separate franchises, following his 2021 victory with the Bucks.

Jrue Holiday is the only player in NBA history to win a championship in his first season with two separate franchises (min. 30 MPG in playoffs).

2020-21 with Milwaukee
2023-24 with Boston pic.twitter.com/YcbvzmEAMI
— NBA (@NBA) June 18, 2024

Furthermore, the defensive stalwart earned a well-deserved $1.26 million contractual bonus for winning the NBA title, adding to five other bonuses he earned through the 2023-24 season.

6 bonuses earned for Jrue Holiday

✅All-Defensive
✅Games played
✅Minutes played
✅Games and rebounds
✅NBA Finals
✅NBA Championship

$2.8M https://t.co/FMf8ySGbm7
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) June 18, 2024

That's not all — Holiday became the first player in NBA Finals history to maintain shooting splits of 50/40/90 while averaging over 10 points. At certain points in the series, he emerged as the favorite for Finals MVP, an award that eventually went to Jaylen Brown.

Jrue Holiday in the 2024 Finals:

14.4 PPG
7.4 RPG
3.8 APG
54/42/100%

First player in NBA history to average 14+ PPG on 50/40/100% in a Finals series. pic.twitter.com/Xf8G1DKr0W
— StatMamba (@StatMamba) June 18, 2024

Most importantly, several analysts felt Holiday locked up a spot in the Naismith Hall of Fame by playing a critical role in two NBA title-winning teams.

Where's the argument?

Holiday will now get a chance to bolster his legacy by winning a second Olympic gold medal this summer at the Paris Olympics. The guard was initially earmarked as part of the "core seven" of USA Basketball before being named in the final 12-man roster alongside LeBron James and others.

Sai Mohan

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

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