Celtics star Jrue Holiday has had a great career in the NBA, winning a plethora of both individual and team awards. At the moment, he is regarded as one of the best two-way guards (D-Rating of 112.9) in the NBA and is often touted to be the winner of the Defensive Player of the Year. While Holiday has had a great professional career, not everyone thinks he’s one of the best basketball players ever to play in the league.
One of those who shares that sentiment is former NBA veteran Brandon Jennings. Recently, the crew of the “Gil’s Arena” show did a re-draft of the 2009 Draft Class, which Jennings is a part of. In their re-draft, Warriors star Stephen Curry was the top pick, closely followed by Los Angeles Clippers’ James Harden. For the third pick, it was DeMar DeRozan of the Sacramento Kings. During the livestream of their conversation, they asked Jennings what he thought of the players mentioned. However, he boldly claimed that Holiday, irrespective of his achievements, is not better than him in any way.
“I don’t think half the players — I don’t think a lot of those players are better than me. Jrue Holiday has never been better than me in the game of basketball… He has a better career. They have better careers than me, they’re not better than me though. Are you f**king crazy? Like, they ended up becoming better, but they’re not better than me. Yes, I’m better than all of them.”
“Jrue Holiday was NEVER better than me in the game of basketball.” 😳
– Brandon Jennings
(🎥 @WatchPlayback / h/t @big_business_ )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 14, 2025
Surprisingly, Jennings co-host Gilbert Arenas seemed to agree with him on his point of view. Arenas went on to talk about how Jennings was a starter during his first year. He further pointed out that players like Holiday and 11-time All-Stars Curry and Harden were not starters in their rookie season. But is Jennings actually better than Holiday in the game of basketball? Let’s take a look at the duo.
Brandon Jennings vs. Jrue Holiday Comparison
Both Brandon Jennings and Jrue Holiday got their first taste of professional basketball back in 2009 when they were drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers, respectively. Jennings was drafted as the 10th overall pick straight out of high school, while Holiday was drafted 17th overall out of college (UCLA).
Jennings played nine seasons in the league, spread across the Bucks (2009-2013, 2017-18), Detroit Pistons (2013-2016), Orlando Magic, New York Knicks, and the Washington Wizards (2016-17) before calling time on his NBA career. On the other hand, Holiday is a 15-season NBA veteran, having played for the Sixers (2009-13), New Orleans Pelicans (2013-2020), Bucks (2020-23), and currently with the Boston Celtics, which he helped lead to a championship last season.
So far in his career, Holiday has won a total of 10 awards, which includes two NBA championships, two All-Star selections, three NBA All-Defensive Team selections (two First Team, one Second Team), the NBA Sportsmanship Award, and three Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year awards. This season, he is currently averaging 10.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.6 assists for the defending champions. Meanwhile, Jennings won just one award throughout his NBA career: the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 2010.
While it’s hard to ignore that injuries may have played a part in Jennings’ career, Holiday achieved much more. Surely, one of them would come out on top, depending on which fan you ask.
