Since the Milwaukee Bucks acquired Jrue Holiday, fans have consistently debated whether he or Khris Middleton is the team’s best player next to Giannis Antetokounmpo.
NBA champion and 15-time All-Star Kevin Garnett took the argument into new territory recently when he claimed that Holiday was currently Milwaukee’s best player on his podcast. Garnett said that Holiday has led the pack with Giannis Antetokounmpo missing a couple of games lately, so he believes the All-Star has been their best player during the second half of the season. That is certainly a bold claim, given the MVP-caliber season Antetokounmpo is having.
Kevin Garnett makes incredibly bold claim about Bucks’ Jrue Holiday
There is no denying that Holiday has had an incredible season thus far. On the year, he is averaging 19.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 1.2 steals, and a career-high 2.4 3-point makes per contest. The guard’s strong efforts helped him earn his second All-Star nod, and he could very well land on an All-NBA team by season’s end.
Garnett has a point in saying that Holiday has picked up some of the slack when Antetokounmpo sits, sure. In 10 games without the Greek Freak this season, the Bucks are 6-4. In that span, the All-Star guard has averaged 22.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, nine assists, and 1.2 steals per game, per StatMuse. Those numbers are beyond solid, and with Khris Middleton having missed plenty of time as well, Holiday has had to shoulder even more of the load in those games.
Still, even with all of that, it’s hard to deem Holiday the Bucks’ best player in a universe where Antetokounmpo has been outright incredible this season. Giannis is averaging a new career-high 31.3 points while tallying 11.9 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game. He’s been in the conversation for MVP all season long and has plenty of excellent performances himself.
Even if he’s not the Bucks’ best player, Holiday’s impact on this team is incredibly significant and will continue to be as they make a run at another championship. His scoring, facilitating, and tremendous defense have all helped the Bucks mightily whenever he has stepped on the floor. While Antetokounmpo and Holiday could joke about this claim with one another, it is certainly not going to cause any friction in the locker room; everyone has the same goal down the stretch.
Shoutout to Jrue Holiday for what has undoubtedly been an outstanding season thus far.