Jrue Holiday’s road back to the basketball court is officially underway.
Again.
The New Orleans Pelicans announced on Monday that their point guard underwent successful surgery on his right eye, per Brett Dawson of The Advocate:
Jrue Holiday had successful surgery to repair the orbital fracture in his right eye, Pelicans announce. He’s out 6-8 weeks.
— Brett Dawson (@BDawsonWrites) April 11, 2016
Holiday, a former Eastern Conference All-Star, has battled a ton of injuries since arriving in New Orleans. Of a possible 246 regular-season games, he has barely appeared in 50 percent of them. He has dealt with multiple right ankle and right leg injuries, and now he has this orbital fracture to his name.
Although he has been productive when playing, it’s difficult for the Pelicans to take that step forward when they’re a collective question mark at the league’s most important position. Jrue Holiday has just one year left on his deal, and while he’s under contract at a bargain-bin price, it doesn’t feel like he has much of a future in New Orleans.
Going on 26, he’s at that weird in-between age, young enough to be part of a burgeoning core, but not young enough to help headline the extensive rebuild for which the Pelicans seem headed.
New Orleans, of course, has a ton of other questions to answer. Its five best players—Ryan Anderson, Anthony Davis, Tyreke Evans, Eric Gordon and Holiday—are all finishing this season on the sidelines. Gordon is a free agent and likely on his way out. Same goes for Anderson, who will definitely price himself out of The Big Easy; the Pelicans have a ton of money invested in the Omer Asik-Alexi Ajinca-Davis tricycle and cannot justify funneling $15 million or more per year into Anderson.
Still, there is hope for Jrue Holiday yet. He is a good shooter and passer, and he posted the Pelicans’ highest offensive box plus-minus among players to appear in at least 10 games, according to Basketball-Reference. All he has to do is get healthy, then stay healthy, and New Orleans, along with a healthy Davis, becomes that much closer to returning to playoff contention.
