All those looking forward to seeing the Boston Celtics veteran guard, Jrue Holiday in the starting lineup, will face disappointment. Ahead of Team USA’s clash against Puerto Rico, Coach Kerr has a worrying update to give the fans. EssentiallySports’ reporter, Grant Afseth, tweeted the latest injury update on Holiday as Team USA is looking to clinch their spot in the quarterfinals.

“Steve Kerr said Jrue Holiday “rolled his ankle the other night.” He’s considered questionable to play against Puerto Rico on Saturday.”

Going against the agile, deadly 3-point shooters in South Sudan, Steve Kerr had decided to relegate the 34-year-old to the second unit. And Holiday delivered just as well as he did as a starter. In fact, the bench unit featuring Derrick White, Jrue, Anthony Edwards, Kevin Durant, and Bam Adebayo stepped up to stabilize Team USA’s advantage when their lead shrunk to 10 in the third quarter.

But it was somewhere during this period that the 2x NBA champion turned his ankle in transition and came up limping. Of course, he stayed in the game, finishing five points, two rebounds, one assist, and a block in 15+ minutes of game time.

USAB heavily pursued Holiday ahead of the Paris Olympics for a reason. And if he had his way, Kerr would probably play Jrue as a starter in every game. But the 2024 Team USA roster is a hot potato that the 9x NBA champion has to juggle to the best of his ability. Even so, the Celtics guard has flourished in whichever role he was given.

And how was he able to do that? “Just get in where I fit in,” Holiday said after Team USA’s win over Serbia. “Guys like LeBron and Steph, Book and White, they’ll find you. I did the best I could to try to screen for guys and slip out and get easy layups or even get wide-open shots because, with the lineup out there, I’m probably going to get wide-open shots,” he further added.

In a word, Holiday is the perfect complementary player. But as we have repeatedly mentioned, this is one of the best Team USA Olympic rosters ever. So, even if Jrue Holiday has to sit out a game, they will still breeze through Puerto Rico.

Despite a potential Jrue Holiday-less starting lineup, Team USA isn’t too worried

Their final opponent in the Group C matchup, Puerto Rico, has the worst point differential in the Olympics at -52. With the kind of talent that USAB boasts, even without Jrue Holiday on the floor, the talent discrepancy is just too wide to consider Puerto Rico a threat. However, the Warriors HC has no plans of taking his eyes off the ultimate prize.

“We want the No. 1 seed. It gives you the best matchup in the quarterfinals. So if we drop down to two or three — which I think is unlikely, but we’ve got to take care of our business — we possibly have a much tougher opponent,” he said during the team’s practice on Friday.

Aside from the 2x All-Star, Anthony Davis (stepped on foot) and White (took a shot to the back) had also sustained minor injuries. Well, it was more of a slight hitch, but with AD, one can never be too careful. But not to worry, both of them practiced on Friday, and barring any unforeseen circumstances will suit up for the game scheduled to tip off at 11:15 PM ET.

 Before you go, do not forget to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr.