"I don't want my wife to leave me": Jrue Holiday on morning workouts, Team USA Basketball's Paris sojourn and more (Exclusive)

The never-ending GOAT debate will seemingly revolve forever around Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Clearly, Jrue Holiday has and will never enter that discussion for a simple reason.

“I’m a utility guy,” Holiday said.

Holiday has become linked with Jordan and James, however, for more reasons relevant to the upcoming Paris Olympics.

All three of those players represent a select handful that won an NBA championship and competed with the U.S. Men’s Olympic basketball team in the same year. Scottie Pippen, Kyrie Irving, Draymond Green, Khris Middleton, Jayson Tatum and Derrick White hold that honor, too. Only Pippen carries the same distinction as Holiday, though. They are the lone U.S. players to do this twice in their NBA career.

In 2021, Holiday guided both the Milwaukee Bucks to an NBA championship and Team USA to a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics. After helping the Boston Celtics win an NBA title last month, Holiday will seek to elevate Team USA in the Paris Olympics in its efforts to collect its fifth consecutive gold medal and 17th overall (July 26 through Aug. 11).

“It’s an honor to think about,” Holiday said for reasons beyond being part of a historical footnote. The importance digs deeper.

Holiday will appear in his second consecutive Olympics after winning his second NBA championship because, as Team USA coach Steve Kerr put it, “he’s one of the best defenders in the league.” In Team USA’s exhibition win over Canada, Holiday primarily defended Shai Gilgeous Alexander, who finished with 10 points on a 3-for-10 clip. Team USA also enters its exhibition against South Sudan on Saturday with Holiday averaging eight points on 58.8% shooting and 3.33 assists in 19.67 minutes per game, while starting in two out of the three exhibitions.

Holiday, a two-time NBA All-Star and member of both three All-NBA Defensive first and second teams, clearly seems prepared for the short turnaround. That’s partly because he experienced both the grind leading into winning an NBA title and the immediate joy with hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy.

“Still in that mode, just locked into competition,” Holiday said. “To be able to play the game of basketball and not really have a break in between with rest and then ramping it back it up, I’m already there. I feel like we won just the other day.”

It wasn’t just the other day, but it seems understandable Holiday said he feels that way.

The Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals in five games on June 6. Exactly a month later, Team USA began its four-day training camp in Las Vegas before winning all of its exhibition games against Canada (July 10, in Las Vegas), Australia (July 15 in Abu Dhabi) and Serbia (July 17 in Abu Dhabi). In between, Holiday said he took three weeks off both to enjoy the championship glow because “it’s always good to clear your mind and not see a basketball.” That does not mean he actually stopped working.

On off-season grind for Olympic glory

Though he didn’t touch a basketball during that time in between the NBA Finals and Team USA camp, Holiday still maintained his weight-lifting regimen that often entails kettlebell swings, lunges and sprinting drills. All of those exercises helped Holiday maximize and maintain his strength, durability and conditioning.

“I don’t like being out of shape,” Holiday said. “I like how I feel when I work out. I’m actually a terrible person if I don’t work out in the morning.”

By following his strict daily workout regiment, Holiday is also apparently a better husband for Lauren Cheney Holiday, a former midfielder with the United States’ women’s national soccer team.

“It starts my day right, especially with my wife. I don’t want her to leave me,” Holiday said, in a half-joking and half-serious manner. “It’s really about a mental thing. When I work out, it’s a great start to my day. I get in the right mental space to be able to go out there and be a better person.”

All of which makes him equipped to excel in the Olympic games shortly after winning an NBA title.

Holiday became a critical player with helping the Bucks win the 2021 NBA Finals against the Phoenix Suns, including two 20-point performances and a game-sealing steal in Game 5. After completing a compressed 72-game season only 71 days after the Los Angeles Lakers won the 2020 NBA title in a campus bubble, Holiday flew immediately to Tokyo following the Milwaukee’s decisive Game 6 win over Phoenix. He had only five days to prepare for Team USA’s first game against France in preliminary play.

No matter. Holiday still averaged 11.8 points while shooting 48.3% from the field and 35% from 3-point range along with 4.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 25.7 minutes per game in five out of six total games. In related news, Team USA won a fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal and went 5-1 overall.

“I think being thrown into it last time was good for me,” Holiday said. “Being able to adjust quickly and adjust to the team and time that we had there. I think now being able to get my natural practice in and not just right before a game will help me.”

It sure has. Last summer, the Celtics acquired Holiday from Portland after Milwaukee dealt him as part of the Damian Lillard trade for the same reasons the Bucks valued him. Holiday could fit in seamlessly as a two-way player amid a team full of stars, including Tatum, White, Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis. Though Holiday’s value showed more on the court and behind the scenes instead of in the box score, he still had a break-out Game 2 performance against Dallas with 26 points on 11-for-14 shooting, 11 rebounds and three assists.

With Team USA, Holiday has fulfilled the same role with “a little bit of everything” with complementary scoring, perimeter defense and hustle plays. Kerr has stressed he will keep his lineup combinations fluid. He also has only penciled in LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid as starters. Same thing with Kevin Durant once he returns from a left calf injury that has kept him sidelined so far. Yet, it’s not a coincidence that Holiday has started in two of the team’s three first exhibitions.

Holiday might lack the same talent level that Jordan showcased with the “Dream Team” and that James maintains with the current Team USA group. Yet, Holiday represents the perfect Team USA candidate, a player that can master all parts of the game without any definitive assurances of shots and minutes.

“Plug into the gaps where I can,” Holiday said. “Knowing that because of the caliber of the team that we have, the minutes might not be there. Or we might not even play in some games. Whenever you get the chance to shoot, you might just get one or two shots. I feel like somebody like me, it’s not about the shots. It’s about going out there and experiencing the game and doing the things that is a little bit of the dirty work. You can impact the game without scoring. I’d like to think I’ve always been that type of player.”

Holiday sure has. And he has become effective enough in that role to join USA Basketball history books in pages that don’t even include Jordan and James.

Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.