Knicks' Pick Involved in Celtics' Jrue Holiday Trade

A former New York Knicks pick is shipping up to Boston in the first blockbuster deal of the NBA offseason.

ESPN's Shams Charania closed Monday by reporting that the Boston Celtics and Portland Trail Blazers agreed to a deal that swapped Jrue Holiday for Anfernee Simons. In acquiring the 2024 NBA champion, the Blazers also sent two second-round picks to New England.

Per Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, one of those second-rounders previously belonged to the Knicks: Boston has acquired a 2030 choice that originated in New York, one that the Blazers obtained during last year's draft when the Knicks moved up to take Marquette alum Tyler Kolek with the 34th selection. The Knicks also sent over second-round choices in 2027 and 2029, as well as the draft right to long-stashed Spanish prospect Dani Diez, in the same deal.

Trading Holiday will keep eight figures in Boston's pocket as they prepare to embark upon a potentially eventful offseason defined by cost-cutting and Jayson Tatum's devastating Achilles injury endured in the second round of the most recent playoffs against the Knicks. New York spoiled the Celtics' title defense — and perhaps the last run for the core led by Tatum and Jaylen Brown — with a six-game victory, one that punched the franchise's first ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals since 2000.

The deal also sends Holiday back to the Pacific Northwest: Holiday previously lingered on the Blazers' roster in 2023 when he was part of the deal that sent former franchise face Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks. Portland then swapped him for Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams III, and a pick package before Boston went on its 18th championship run.

Boston and Portland's cross-coast/conference business is the first major transaction since the NBA Finals wrapped on Sunday, with Charania on the call less than 24 hours after the Oklahoma City Thunder finished off the Indiana Pacers in a winner-take-all Game 7.