Pelicans' Jrue Holiday, wife Lauren using NBA bubble salary to create social justice fund

The New Orleans Pelicans will begin the NBA resumption 10th in the Western Conference standings and, respectfully, possessing little chance to win anything of merit. 

New Orleans guard Jrue Holiday is nevertheless competing at the NBA Wide World of Sports Complex bubble site for a greater purpose. 

As ESPN's Andrew Lopez wrote, the 30-year-old guard and his wife Lauren, a former United States Women's National Team player, are using the game checks he'll receive from the 22-team model to crown an NBA champion to create the Jrue and Lauren Holiday Social Justice Impact Fund. Holiday could earn up to $5.3 million while at the Orlando hub. 

Per Lopez, Holiday intends to donate up to $1.5 million to Black and Brown citywide initiatives in New Orleans, up to $1.5 million to initiatives in Los Angeles and Compton, California, up to $1 million to initiatives in Indianapolis, $1 million to Black-owned businesses in over 10 other cities, and $500,000 to higher-learning institutions such as historically Black universities. 

The Holiday family is from the Los Angeles area, and Jrue and Lauren met while they attended UCLA. Justin and Aaron Holiday, Jrue's brothers, feature for the Indiana Pacers.

Jrue Holiday told ESPN: 

"Honestly when it came down to it, it was me and my wife talking about what we could do to kind of further this movement and progression and being able to help out our community and just being able to help.

"We were just kind of sitting in the house, in the bed, thinking about it, and my wife said, 'I think you should do this and you should do the rest of your salary.' That's a great idea. Because we want to make an impact. God has blessed us with so much. We know a couple of things that are important are time and money, and right now, we have both. To be able to give away our money to help further this movement and Black-owned businesses that have taken a hit in COVID-19, to us, it felt like the perfect time and opportunity."

Following the killing of George Floyd, Lauren Holiday penned an emotional editorial for The Players' Tribune regarding racial profiling.