MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Justin Holiday experienced the Nuggets’ championship ring ceremony on opening night the same way he received his own ring seven years ago: off to the side.
Denver’s only NBA-specific free agent addition of the 2023 offseason stood by the bench Tuesday night, watching as his new teammates collected their hardware. He soaked in the atmosphere, thinking it was a cool event to witness and experience, even though he wasn’t part of the 2022-23 championship team.
“It’s funny,” he reflected, “because I’ve won a championship before, and I wasn’t actually there for that ring ceremony. So that was my first one.”
No better way to summarize Holiday’s career.
He’s never in one place too long. The Nuggets are his 10th NBA team. He hasn’t played 200 games with any of the previous nine. He’s had multiple stints with two franchises. Played professionally in two European countries. Been waived four times (all early in his career) and traded six times (all since 2016).
He played two minutes, eight seconds in an NBA Finals game in 2015, helping the Warriors win their first title. But the ensuing offseason, he signed with Atlanta and missed the ceremony. “At first it was like, ‘Oh yeah, you’ll end up playing them!’ I’ll get the ring then,” Holiday told The Denver Post. Then Feb. 18, four days before the Hawks were scheduled to face the Warriors, he got traded to Chicago.
The Bulls had already played Golden State. So Holiday finished out the season without the reunion that so many players look forward to when they’ve signed with a new team the season after winning a title. It’s the reunion Bruce Brown will get this January.
“I had to wait until the summer when my team wasn’t in playoffs and (the Warriors) were in playoffs to go to the game and get my ring, essentially,” Holiday said. “So my ceremony was in the crowd. Like, ‘Oh, Justin Holiday’s getting his ring.’”
No biggie. He got the ring in the end. The bad timing of the trade and the way Holiday and Golden State had to arrange for the handoff was funny, more than anything. Still, he admits, the feeling isn’t quite the same. Holiday understands that even more now that he has gotten to watch the Nuggets’ ceremony up close.
Two halves don’t make a whole.
“I think it would be a lot more fun to be able to experience that with my teammates who I did it with,” he said Friday. “That would be a lot cooler a situation.”
So here Holiday is, joining DeAndre Jordan as the latest veteran bench player to join the Nuggets in the back half of his career. Last season, the journeymen were Jeff Green and Ish Smith. Holiday, similarly, is widely respected for his positive energy as a locker room guy.
Preseason games were an indicator that he might be more than that as soon as opening night: He filled in as a starting wing while Michael Porter Jr. was out with an ankle injury. But Holiday’s involvement in Denver’s lineup so far has been surprisingly the same as his involvement in the ring ceremony, marking an interesting change of approach from coach Michael Malone.
“He understands that we have a lot of young players. And we have to see who those young players are, what we have,” Malone said. “But the one thing I know about Justin Holiday is that he’s a pro. He’s in the gym every day. And like he did in training camp, like he did in the preseason, when you call upon him, he’s gonna go out there and do his job at a very high level.
“It’s great to have guys like Justin, guys like DeAndre, who understand that right now we’re gonna play our young guys. And they’re gonna stay ready and be pros while awaiting their opportunity.”
Malone’s reputation throughout his Denver tenure, almost to a fault, has been stubborn dependence on experienced vets at the expense of giving minutes to young players. But the Nuggets’ vision for a future beyond one championship requires a delicate balance of win-now mindset versus draft-and-develop emphasis.
Hence the minutes for rookie Julian Strawther in Denver’s second game of the 2023-24 season. And the increased use of second-year players like Peyton Watson and Christian Braun.
That’s where a player like Holiday fits in. A player who likes to tell people, “When I’m done playing, I think the thing I’m gonna miss the most is actually summer workouts and the work to get better. More than probably basketball games. But I like to be with a team and have one cause that we’re trying to get, and achieve that. I’m just a competitor. I want to win.”
As for when that day will come, not even Holiday knows the answer.
“Have I thought about hanging it up? Heck yeah. I mean, I have kids. I have a family. So that thought always comes, especially when you get moved around a lot,” he told The Post. “So yeah, I’ve thought about it. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t. I’ve been kind of forced to. My wife’s had conversations like, ‘When are you gonna be done?’ So it’s not like I’m just sitting here (thinking about it) by myself. I had to actually think about it. And I wasn’t able to give her an answer. I still think I have a lot of playing in me.”
Holiday played in 46 games last season, the fewest since he was a rookie a decade earlier. On a defending-championship roster trying to prioritize a youth movement, that number could feasibly drop from 46, if opening week was any indicator. But if Holiday wants a chance at another ring night — the real deal this time — that kind of role might be worth it.
“It’s not about me,” he said. “It’s about this team and what we’re trying to do together. And I’ll be ready next time I’m called.”
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