Jrue Holiday gives candid reaction to Bradley Beal comparison drama (2025)

BOSTON — Jrue Holiday is a player most coaches around the NBA love so it wasn’t a big surprise to hear that his former coach Mike Budenholzer reportedly ask Bradley Beal to emulate Holiday’s game this season given the offensive firepower the Suns already had in place. However, NBA insider Chris Haynes reported that Beal was not a fan of that comparison to the Celtics guard amid the Suns’ disastrous 36-46 season.

“Earlier in the season, Coach Budenholzer met with Bradley Beal, and told Bradley Beal, he wanted him to be the Jrue Holiday of this team,“ Haynes said on his show. ”Holiday is a player who might become a Hall of Famer. But you gotta understand, when you’re talking to a guy of Bradley Beal’s caliber, it wasn’t well-received.

“You know the type of player Bradley Beal is. You know how he’s made a name for himself in this league, playing his way. So asking him to shift his game, alter it and to say Jrue Holiday on top of that, somebody who Coach Budenholzer has won a championship with in Milwaukee. It wasn’t well-received the way it was explained to me.”

When asked about Beal’s reported response to the request at Tuesday’s practice, Holiday tried to take a measured tone while distancing himself from the drama.

“I guess I have nothing to say because this is the first time I’m hearing about it,” Holiday said. “I think me and Brad are different players. And I also don’t know what he meant by saying that. But we are different players. Brad is an elite scorer and he’s had somewhat of an off year. So I feel like just things are different.”

Holiday also admitted that Beal’s situation was a challenging one amid a rocky last two years in Phoenix.

“It’s tough to go from where he was, somewhere like in Washington, and then kind of experience the experience that he’s been going through,” Holiday admitted. ‘I just don’t know why people gotta bring me into it. Let me just do me, go out here and try to win as many rings as I can.”

Holiday also reflected on the firing of his former Bucks coach Budenholtzer after just one season. It was the third straight firing for the Suns in three seasons with their head coaches.

“Can you really be surprised by anything nowadays?” Holiday asked “People get traded and crazy trades happen. And then a lot of coaches have gotten fired and nobody knows the exact reason. Everybody can speculate but obviously there’s something that they want to work out and something they will do as an organization. But I mean, Bud’s sitting on a bag. Right, that’s what they say? He got fired but he’s sitting on a bag so he can’t be that upset right?”

Holiday and the Celtics have bigger things to focus on than the Suns dysfunction. They will continue preparation all week for the start of their first round series which kicks off at TD Garden on Sunday.

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