Pelicans: Is David Griffin bluffing about holding onto Jrue Holiday?

Are David Griffin’s recent comments from his introductory press conference regarding Jrue Holiday simply a leverage tactic for the New Orleans Pelicans?

David Griffin, the brand new Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations for the New Orleans Pelicans, has a lot on his plate as the team heads into the offseason. The 2018-2019 season was overall a failure by most standards, and the core of the roster is in jeopardy with Anthony Davis already having one foot out the door. Besides the AD situation, Griffin also has a big decision to make regarding guard Jrue Holiday’s future with the team.

In his press conference, David Griffin did not shy away from talking about just how important Jrue Holiday is to the New Orleans Pelicans. At first glance, it seems like Griffin sees Jrue as the “franchise building block” for the team, but could there be any other ulterior motives here?

Rumors in the NBA are a tricky thing to make sense of, and it’s gotten us to the point where everything must be questioned whenever news leaks or an executive says something important to the media. You can’t just take people’s words at face value anymore, as frustrating as it may be.

So with this high praise about Jrue Holiday coming from David Griffin’s mouth, what else could he be up to? Well, Griffin could be talking Jrue up and bolstering his importance to this franchise simply to drive up the asking price for any teams that might be interested in trading for him this summer. If the Pelicans want to dive headfirst into a full rebuild, it could make sense to trade away Jrue for as many young prospects as possible. These comments from Griffin could all be an effort to get the New Orleans Pelicans more leverage in potential trade negotiations.

Surely, the Anthony Davis-related comments from this press conference where Griffin hinted that the door is not completely closed on AD staying with the Pelicans was all a leverage play, so why couldn’t the things he said about Jrue be for the same purpose?

The be honest, there’s no way to know. But what we do know is that Jrue Holiday has done nothing to alienate himself from this franchise and this city. The same cannot be said about Anthony Davis.

If David Griffin is, in fact, just trying to build trade leverage for Jrue’s services, it could end up souring a lot of people on his role with the Pelicans organization. Jrue Holiday is beloved in this city, and the feeling has always seemed to be mutual. Being anything but forthcoming about Holiday’s future with this team would probably end up being a very bad look for Griffin.

The bottom line is, we have no reason not to trust David Griffin at this point. If he says he wants Jrue Holiday to be the cornerstone of the New Orleans Pelicans, as far as we know, he means it. We’ll see what happens as the summer plays out, but for now, bet on Jrue being in the Big Easy come tip-off this fall.