Jrue ‘Big Money’ Holiday keeps getting better with Bucks

Welcome to the 2020-21 edition of the Bucks Weekly Spotlight. Each Thursday, we’ll track the progress of the players who are trying to help Milwaukee make a championship run and give updates on other players from the previous week.

This is the 13th edition of the 2020-21 Bucks Weekly Spotlight.

SPOTLIGHT ON …

Guard Jrue Holiday

The Milwaukee Bucks have their point guard position locked down for the near future.

Holiday signed a four-year contract extension with the Bucks on Sunday worth at least $134 million if he opts in on the final season of the deal.

“I’m a Buck for life,” Holiday said after inking his name on the contract.

Holiday was the biggest change to the Milwaukee roster over the offseason.

After the Bucks’ trio of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Eric Bledsoe and Khris Middleton fell short of an NBA Finals appearance once again in the 2019-20 postseason, general manager Jon Horst wanted to shake things up. As part of a four-team trade, the Bucks sent Bledsoe, George Hill, first-round pick R.J. Hampton and a pair of future first-round picks to bring in Holiday, the 29-year-old former All-Star.

His first season in Milwaukee has gone swimmingly. Holiday is averaging 17.3 points, 5.4 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game. With a league-leading average of 1.8 steals per contest, he’s a favorite to be named to the All-NBA Defensive team — an honor he’s taken home twice before (2017-18, 2018-19).

And he’s only getting better as he gels more and more with the Bucks roster.

Holiday has two double-double efforts in his last three games, and he went off for 29 points — his second-biggest scoring outburst of the season — Tuesday, two days after signing the extension.

Over his last 10 games, Holiday is shooting 58.2% from the floor and 48.2% from 3-point range. In that span, he’s averaging 23.4 points and 6.9 assists per contest.

That’s Holiday being Holiday. Or, should we say, Big Money.

Meet Khash Money, Big Money and…

💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/Yiyb7R9qw9

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) April 6, 2021

BUCKSHOTS

— With 13 points and 13 rebounds in the loss to Golden State on Tuesday, Bobby Portis notched his sixth double-double of the season.

— If it seems like you’ve watched more of Thanasis Antetokounmpo recently, it’s because, well, you have. Over the last nine games, the elder Antetokounmpo is averaging 7.4 points and 3.6 rebounds in 15.3 minutes per game. Over the previous 29 contests he appeared in, Antetokounmpo was averaging just over half the time on the floor (8.5 MPG) with 2.2 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.

— Milwaukee signed Jeff Teague last week to serve as a backup guard. So far, so good. Teague scored just four combined points over his first two outings in a Bucks uniform, but the 32-year-old went off for 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting against the Warriors on Tuesday.