Last updated: 9/30/2019
Last updated: 9/30/2019
Last updated: 9/30/2019
2025 Free Agents - Aaron Holiday
Holiday hasn't shown much playmaking skills through his first several seasons in the league. His assist to usage ratio (which measures how often a player gets an assist given how much they get the ball) has consistently been near the bottom of the league for a point guard, according to Cleaning the Glass. He has consistently taken a bunch of midrange shots and has not been effective from there, and has also really struggled to finish at the rim. However, he may have turned a new leaf in '23-'24 playing in Houston. Holiday might best be served as a Patrick Beverley type - a point guard that relies offensively on high-usage wings, but defensively guards the opposing point guards. Holiday is a career 38% three-point shooter, so there's potential for him to provide some value as a spot-up shooter in that kind of limited role. He does have some ability to create space off-the-dribble for jumpers. Holiday will be almost 29 years old as a free agent in 2025, so he's no longer a young prospect. He was very solid for the Rockets in '23-'24, and was even in the regular rotation. Holiday has been an efficient scorer for the Rockets, shooting a 58% true shooting, which is by far a career high, led by 40% 3-point shooting, 67% at the rim, and taking fewer midrange shots. If that continues, he will stick around the league as a solid backup guard.
Summary
Holiday has a $5 million team option for 2025-2026, and if that is declined he will be an unrestricted free agent with a $6 million cap hold and Early Bird rights. Using his Early Bird Rights, the Thunder could offer him a starting salary of around $13.5 million, which should be more than enough to retain him. However, that likely wouldn't even be an issue considering if they want to retain him and he plays well enough to warrant that kind of money, they can just exercise the option. If his option is declined, other teams will have multiple ways to sign Holiday as even teams without cap space could use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, or possibly even the Taxpayer MLE or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. It's also possible that he only gets minimum offers.
Cap Considerations
Kris Dunn (3-1 years, $16 million, 2024) Tre Jones (2 years, $19 million, 2023) Dennis Smith, Jr. (1 year minimum, 2023)