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Aaron Holiday Rumors
Aaron Holiday to return to Rockets on a new one-year contract
Michael Scotto: The Houston Rockets declined the $4.9 million team option on guard Aaron Holiday, sources told @hoopshype. Holiday is expected to return to the Rockets on a 1-year deal. Holiday, a favorite of coach Ime Udoka, averaged 5.5 points, including 39.8%, from 3-point range, this season.
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For most basketball fans, the nickname Fab Five conjures up memories of the star-studded University of Michigan men’s basketball team of the 1990s with Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson. For basketball fans in Hawaii, about two decades earlier they had their own Fabulous Five: Dwight Holiday, Bob Nash, Jerome Freeman, Al Davis and John Penebacker, who made history and broke racial barriers. And thanks to the basketball foundation built by Holiday, his younger brother, Shawn, not only became a basketball star in his own right, but just happens to be the father of three NBA players: Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday, free agent guard Justin Holiday and Houston Rockets guard Aaron Holiday. “Uncle Dwight was a part of the original ‘Fab Five.’ I heard about that from my pops when I was growing up,” Jrue Holiday said in a phone interview. “He was a remarkable basketball player. I never got to see him play on film. But he could hoop and it runs in the family.”
The University of Hawaii’s men’s basketball program had a dismal 6-20 record during the 1969-70 season. Coach Red Rocha turned the program around by adding a strong recruiting class with Dwight Holiday, Freeman, Nash, Penebacker and Davis. Dwight Holiday was a junior college star at Hartnell College in Salinas, California, who said he once scored 56 points. Holiday said he received scholarship offers from La Salle University in Philadelphia and the University of Detroit, but didn’t want to leave California. While working at Dick Bruhn Family of Stores in Salinas, then-Hawaii assistant coach Bruce O’Neal called him there trying to convince him to play for the Rainbows. “[O’Neal] kept calling the store,” Dwight Holiday, 71, recalled. “And this old white man that worked there said, ‘Who’s this man that keeps calling the store from Hawaii?’ I said, ‘They want me to play there.’ And he said, ‘If I could go to Hawaii, I would go.’ So, I went. I didn’t think about it that deeply. I didn’t know it was that far and across water.” Holiday, Nash, Freeman, Davis and Penebacker became the starting five of the most beloved Hawaii basketball team after it put the program on the map nationally. They also happened to be the school’s first all-Black starting five.
Scott is reminded of Shawn Holiday when he watches Jrue Holiday in the NBA now. “Jrue plays just like him with his demeanor, toughness and the way he guards on the defensive end and pride in that,” Scott said. “[He] Can score when he has to or needs to but plays just like his dad.” That was surprising to Jrue Holiday when he heard those words for the first time. He said the competitiveness and willingness to play hard on both ends that he and his brothers have “taken to heart” came from his father. “Every time someone talked about my dad, they said, ‘Your dad was really good,’ ” Jrue Holiday said. “[Scott’s words] are just confirmation. Honestly, I couldn’t beat my dad [in one-on-one] until I was [in my] mid- to high teens. I never doubted my dad’s knowledge of the game, but just hearing that is confirmation that maybe under different circumstances he could have chosen to go to the NBA or be a professional basketball player.” “My old high school coach taught me the defense that I taught [Shawn] and Jrue uses now,” Said Dwight Holiday said.
Michael Scotto: The Houston Rockets and Aaron Holiday agreed to a 2-year, $10 million deal, which includes a team option for the 2025-26 season, sources told @hoopshype. The Athletic first reported an agreement and veteran Rockets scribe @Jonathan_Feigen was also on it regarding the team option.
Jonathan Feigen: Should add, the second year of Aaron Holiday's deal is at a team option, per source.
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Aaron Holiday to re-sign with Rockets
Shams Charania: Free agent guard Aaron Holiday plans to sign a two-year, $10 million deal to stay with the Houston Rockets, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium . Holiday played 78 games as a reserve guard for Rockets' turnaround season last year.
John Gambadoro: With free agency opening up tomorrow and the Suns in need of a point guard a couple of names to keep an eye on are - Monte Morris and Aaron Holiday. Kris Dunn makes a lot of sense just not sure if he is gettable.
Rockets plan to keep Jeff Green, Jock Landale and Jae'Sean Tate under contract for next season
Facing deadlines to reach decisions on the contracts of Jeff Green, Jock Landale and Jae’Sean Tate, the Rockets plan to keep all three under contract, a person with knowledge of the team’s plans said. They also are open to bringing back guard Aaron Holiday, who will be a free agent again this offseason, though that decision could be impacted by the draft if the Rockets add two smaller guards.
The Rockets have until Friday to exercise their option on Tate’s contract, worth $7.5 million next season. They have until Friday to waive Landale before the next season on his contract, worth $8 million, would become guaranteed. Though they have until July 11 to exercise their option on Green’s contract, they have also let teams know that they plan to keep Green.
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