Before Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday played for the Milwaukee Bucks, he had a very frightening experience. Back in 2016, he found out his wife had a benign brain tumor when she was six months pregnant with their child.

Because they managed to get through that, Holiday revealed that that very time in his life helped him overcome the Bucks trade.

“I think it helped me prepare for [the trade],” Holiday told The Ringer’s Mirin Fader in an April 3 story. “Life does hit you in different types of ways at different times, and maybe just subconsciously, you learn this lesson. … I know some people get down on life … but I think for me, and I don’t know why—maybe it is because of the support of my family, maybe it is because of my faith—but it’s always turned out to be something that I grew from and made me so much stronger.”

Holiday had won a championship and made his second All-Star team with the Bucks. He was a member of the Portland Trail Blazers for five days before they traded him to the Celtics.

Jrue Holiday Detailed Initial Reaction to Trade

Even though Holiday got through the trade, he admitted how surprised he was that the Bucks pulled the trigger. He told Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green how it all went down when he first heard the news.

On the March 26 episode of The Draymond Green Show, Holiday gave the full details.

“I’m taking a nap. I see a call from the GM, and I’m like, ‘I’ll call him back.’ Then, two seconds later, my agent called me. So I pick up his call, he’s like ‘You talk to him?’ I’m like ‘Nah bro, I’m sleeping.’ He’s like, ‘Well, you just got traded, so you should probably call him back.’ I ended up looking at my phone, he ended up texting me everything that was happening, like ‘Yeah we traded you here, here.’ And then I ended up calling him and he ended up saying like ‘Yeah we traded you for Damian Lillard.’ So, I also had no clue.”

Holiday stressed that he wished the Bucks had told him ahead of time knowing his history there.

“I think for me it was just a shock because, at least let me know 24 hours in advance, not five minutes in advance. And maybe I’m asking for too much. It’s kind of like, I mean, we won, I won there.”

Jrue Holiday & Celtics Have Mutual Interest in Extension

Holiday has a player option for $37.4 million for the 2024-25 season. He could opt out and enter free agency. However, he and the Celtics could work out an extension beforehand. According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, both sides want to work that out.

“He is eligible on April 1 too. He’s already eligible now, but he – this sounds funky – he gets more eligible April 1. There’s fewer limits on what he can sign April 1. And I do think that there’s interest on both sides to get something done sooner rather than later. Whether they do or not, I don’t know,” Windhorst said on the March 25 episode of “The Hoop Collective.”

Holiday and the Celtics have not worked out an extension yet, but that could change in the coming days.