Even Jrue Holiday Was Impressed by 2024 Team USA in Paris Olympics

All-Defensive Second Team Boston Celtics combo guard Jrue Holiday has had quite the 2024.

The two-time All-Star inked a four-year, $135 million contract extension with the Celtics in April, as Boston was on the cusp of a deep playoff run. After finishing with a regular-season-best 64-18 record, the Celtics went an impressive 16-3 in the playoffs, winning its record-breaking 18th NBA title.

Read More: Celtics Win Record-Breaking 18th NBA Finals With Blowout Win Over Mavericks

Following the victory, three Boston players proceeded to suit up for Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer: Holiday, All-NBA First Team power forward Jayson Tatum, and All-Defensive Second Team guard Derrick White.

The American squad was unusually loaded this year en route to claiming its fifth consecutive gold medal. Beyond the Boston contingent, Team USA’s roster also included All-NBA Los Angeles Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, All-Star Phoenix Suns standouts Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, All-NBA Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, All-Star Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo, All-NBA Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards, and All-Star Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, and All-NBA Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton.

This year’s gold medalists numbered among one of the better crops in recent memory. And they still barely beat eventual silver medalists Team France.

According to MassLive’s Souichi Terada, even Holiday — playing for his second Olympic gold medal this summer — was impressed by the program’s personnel.

Read More: Stephen Curry, USA Basketball Survive Team France to Win 5th Straight Olympic Gold Medal

“Those are some of the best players in the world,” Holiday remarked. “It was fun to go out there and play. Devin Booker, the way that he played, kind of how you play off each other with him is pretty easy. I think Steph Curry is just different, I mean, one of the best players in the world. So to go out there and be his teammate for the first time ever was cool, too. It was an amazing experience. Played with some legends and against some legends, and again, brought back some gold.”

Last season in Boston, Holiday averaged an impressive 12.5 points on .480/.429/.833 shooting splits, 5.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.8 blocks a night across 69 contests. Despite being 34 years old, the UCLA product remains one of the best point-of-attack perimeter defenders in the league at large, and a hyper-efficient scorer and supplemental distributor.

“The medal in Paris was cool, it was obviously against France, so it was kind of literally us against the world,” Holiday noted. “But winning here was amazing. I’m not sure anything tops that. To be able to win here in Boston, Game 5, the crowd, the (halfcourt) shot Payton (Pritchard) hit. It was all just so overwhelming that was amazing. Then the parade was crazy, too. I still feel like I’m still on a high with everything going on.”