Celtics veteran hopes to stay with Boston amid trade speculation

As an aging member with a high salary Jrue Holiday has been viewed as a prospective exchange candidate during what could be a busy offseason of roster movement for the Celtics He hopes that isn t the situation The veteran guard commented in his end-of-season news conference that he wants to remain with Boston and that he still believes the Celtics can contend for a championship next season even with star competitor Jayson Tatum expected to miss a large portion of the season following Achilles surgery I think we still have a really really great opportunity and a great window to win a championship again Holiday explained Saturday I think the talent that we have on this group not only on the court but the coaching staff all the way up to Brad Stevens has been amazing So the opportunity to win is now and I still want to be a part of that Related Articles Al Horford noncommittal on future Celtics teammates hope he returns What s next for Celtics Uncertain offseason looms after ugly playoff exit Kristaps Porzingis Mystery illness during Celtics playoffs as frustrating as you can imagine Jaylen Brown sends message to Celtics fans after death of title defense Celtics pulverized in season-ending Meeting loss to Knicks Holiday s arrival last offseason helped turn the Celtics from contenders into champions His numbers dipped near career lows this season points rebounds assists per tournament as he dealt with finger shoulder and hamstring injuries that caused him to miss regular-season games and three playoff games We had a pretty good regular season Holiday revealed Obviously took care of our business there -win season had everybody fairly healthy I went through a couple injuries here and there but did my best to prepare for it all season and just felt like we fell short Though he still is widely regarded as one of the NBA s best and bulk versatile defenders Holiday will be when next season tips off and has three years remaining on his contract all with salaries above million The Celtics are expected to make changes to their championship-winning roster this summer to cut payroll and attempt to avoid the worst of the NBA s prohibitive luxury tax penalties As right now constructed Boston s - roster is projected to be the the greater part expensive in NBA history between salaries and tax sanctions The Celtics posted the NBA s third-best record this season - but were upset by the New York Knicks in six games in the Eastern Conference semifinals I think that we had the best squad in the league Holiday mentioned Obviously doing it last year but the chemistry that we had that we built from last season even coming into this postseason and how we were feeling I feel like we are disappointed in ourselves We felt like we let the organization down and the city down