Knicks Rumors: Pros, Cons Of Pursuing Jrue Holiday In Free Agency

Con: Injury History

The primary red flag for Jrue Holiday is that he’s suffered a pair of concerning injuries during his NBA career. He played a generally healthy 2016-17 campaign after admirably spending time away from the game to care for his wife and newborn child, but suffered and aggravated a significant injury in previous seasons.

If Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks are going to utilize a vast majority of their cap space to sign Holiday, then they must see a clean medical bill.

Holiday’s 2013-14 campaign ended after just 34 games when he suffered a stress fracture in his right tibia. He missed another 42 games in 2014-15, primarily due to an aggravation of the lower leg injury, and was absent for 17 games in 2015-16, primarily due to an orbital wall fracture.

Holiday appeared to be in good health during the 2016-17 campaign, but the Knicks would be in the right to proceed with caution here.

Stress fractures are some of the most difficult injuries for a professional athlete to treat due to the fact that it’s not a complete break. It’s a crack in the bone that generally results from overuse or the application of too much pressure to a specific area.

If the Knicks’ team doctors clear Holiday, however, it would be easily defensible for Jackson and the Knicks to make a play at signing the 6’4″ point guard.