Who will take over as the veteran leader for the Indiana Pacers?
By Ryan Eggers
Can Justin Holiday use his NBA experience wisely?
As the oldest player on the team by a fairly wide margin, it makes sense why Justin Holiday would be a strong candidate to be the veteran leader of the team. Even better, as the older brother of Aaron Holiday, he has experience being a mentor to someone on the roster.
His NBA curriculum vitae adds up in his favor. His career began with a bit of a journeyman status, meaning Holiday experienced several different teams, cities, locker rooms, and roster dynamics. While he was only logging between 10-20 minutes a game during that time, that’s enough to get a good grasp on life as a professional basketball player.
He found his footing during his second stint with the Chicago Bulls, becoming a full-time starter and putting up modestly impressive numbers. After being traded midseason to the Memphis Grizzlies last year, Holiday saw another full-time starter experience to round out his resume.
His travels are unmatched by any other player on the roster. If anybody understands how the NBA works, from its ups to its downs, it’s got to be Holiday, a guy who clawed his way into a career after going undrafted in 2011. He’s seen it all, from the NBA, to the G-League, to the Hungarian League.
Those stories will be invaluable to the locker room, and Holiday will surely be an invaluable presence. But the guy? Probably not.
It’s just a matter of his playing role and his contract. We all know that Holiday signing was a late one for the Indiana Pacers, with Holiday taking his time to find the right price/fit. While the fit makes sense here in Indiana, this is likely a stopgap for both his career and the Pacers’ wing rotation.
He’ll be looking for more money and a longer-term deal after this season, and while it may work out that the Pacers are the team to give it, it feels much more likely that this is a stop-and-go transaction. And players like that usually aren’t the veteran leaders of a team.
Will his experience be helpful? Yes. Will he be a strong veteran presence in the locker room? Yes. Will he be the veteran presence in the locker room? Probably not.