Jrue Holiday dealt to Boston for Time Lord, Brogdon

Lillard 'locks down' first-round value post-trade

Raphielle Johnson, Dan Titus and Vaughn Dalzell react to the blockbuster trade involving Damian Lillard, discussing Lillard as a first-round fantasy pick and bumps in ranking for DeAndre Ayton and Scoot Henderson.

Ok, nothing, nothing, nothing… wait, WHAT!? September was a relatively quiet month in the NBA, but we were treated to a Woj Bomb of epic proportions Wednesday when news dropped that Damian Lillard finally got his wish and was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. We didn’t have to wait too long for more excitement, as just four days later, Jrue Holiday was sent from Portland to Boston. It’s a phenomenal time to be an NBA fan!

Now that the dust has settled, Portland fans can fully evaluate how the team made out in the Dame deals:

With a final return of Robert Williams, Deandre Ayton, Malcolm Brogdon, multiple first-round picks and a pair of pick swaps, the Blazers didn’t do too shabby in moving their franchise superstar.

The Trail Blazers, Bucks, Suns and Celtics transformed their rosters over the last five days. Portland is looking ahead with its rebuilding roster, Phoenix is trying to win a title and emerge from a tough Western Conference with new depth, and the Eastern Conference arms race “heated up,” with Miami nowhere to be found.

For a fantasy rundown of the Lillard trade, be sure to check out Raphielle Johnson’s column: Blockbuster Trade Sends Lillard to Milwaukee. Let’s dive into the fantasy movers and shakers following Holiday’s deal to Bean Town.

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Boston receives:

Jrue Holiday

Let’s be honest. We never expected Jrue to play a single minute for the Blazers. He was part of a bigger Portland plan to acquire young talent and future draft capital. Holiday netted the Blazers some much-needed frontcourt depth in shot-blocker Robert “Big Bob” “Time Lord” Williams and veteran point guard Malcolm Brogdon along with some more first-round draft picks. Meanwhile, the Celtics acquire a two-way PG to fill the void left by Marcus Smart on both ends of the court.

How will Holiday fit in with the Celtics? He’s won an NBA title as a key starter. He’s played alongside a superstar in Giannis Antetokounmpo. He’s been a consistently elite fantasy option for years. He’ll be just fine in Boston. In fact, he should get a slight bump in value, playing more minutes for a team that has a better starting five but a thinner bench. Holiday has finished no worse than 48 in per-game fantasy value (8-cat) in each of the last 11 seasons, posting seven top-30 campaigns and two in the top-20. He’s also averaged 67 games across his last eight seasons, showing his durability and strong, per-game and total fantasy hoops value.

He gets a small bump in fantasy value moving to Boston, as his role should be similar to the one he commanded in Milwaukee, with the chance for more playing time and an improvement in the assists department with a more talented cast of teammates.

Boston’s depth took a hit with this move, which slightly boosts the fantasy values of Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis. Porzingis should see as many minutes as he can handle with Time Lord out the door and 37-year-old Al Horford his only competition for minutes in the frontcourt. Oshae Brissett and Sam Hauser are intriguing late-round dart throws in deeper category leagues due to the injury risk of KP and Horford’s advanced age. Payton Pritchard is worth a look in points leagues. He’ll be expected to take on an expanded scoring role off the bench.

Derrick White loses a little shine here (sorry Noah Rubin!), and one of fantasy’s golden boys takes a small hit in fantasy value. He won’t get as much usage with Holiday in the fold (especially if he plays alongside Holiday in the starting five), but Boston’s lack of depth provides him with a solid floor of minutes. White’s fantasy decline is negligible, and this move should drive his ADP down. That actually presents fantasy managers a great opportunity to draft him as a value pick after his draft capital was driven up in the offseason following the departure of Marcus Smart. The biggest question in Boston is: will the Celtics start White or Horford?

Portland receives:

Robert Williams III

His stock was on the rise heading into this season already, but moving to Portland should give him an even bigger boost. Two seasons ago, Williams finished 31 in per-game fantasy value in 8-cat formats and 16 in 9-cat. His star burned bright heading into 2022-23, but injuries limited him to just 35 games and a drop of over six minutes per game in playing time. Even with that decline in minutes and playing at less than 100%, he finished 102 in 8-cat and 66 in 9-cat.

Williams’ ability to block shots at a high level and provide an elite FG% means he doesn’t need to play 30 minutes to post strong per-game fantasy numbers. Williams gets a tremendous boost in fantasy value moving from Boston to a much less talented Portland team. He’ll have Ayton as competition for playing time, but this is one of the NBA’s thinnest frontcourts. Is there a chance Portland goes with a double-big lineup of Ayton and Williams? Even if not, Williams should see 25+ minutes and see some positive regression in the blocks category after swatting just over 1.3 a season ago.

Malcolm Brogdon

Just like Holiday, Brogdon doesn’t fit Portland’s timeline. The Blazers drafted Scoot Henderson third overall (a steal, might I add!) in this year’s draft, and they’ll pair him with Shaedon Sharpe and Anfernee Simons to form the core of the future. Jerami Grant signed a massive extension in the off-season, but he’s also rumored to be on the block.

Portland surely isn’t committed to keeping Brogdon around, so we’ll wait to pass judgement on his fantasy value until we know where he’ll be playing this season. If he remains in Portland, it’s clearly a downgrade for he and all of Sharpe, Simons and Scoot, but we don’t predict that happening.