Brandon Jennings instigated a short-lived back-and-forth with Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum back in January. This time, the former NBA guard is targeting two-time champion Jrue Holiday instead.
“Jrue Holiday’s never been better than me,” Jennings said during a live stream with Gilbert Arenas. “Jrue Holiday has never been better than me. He has a better career. They have better careers than me. Are you (expletive) crazy? They ended up becoming better but you’re not better than me.”
Jennings, better known for his high school career as one of California’s most hyped point guards, lasted nine NBA seasons before retiring in 2018. Unlike Holiday, Jennings never made an All-Star Game, never made an All-Defensive First or Second Team — Holiday did so three times each — and Jennings never won a title. His biggest claim to fame as a former professional was scoring 55 points in his rookie season for a 46-36 Milwaukee Bucks team that got bounced in the first round of the playoffs.
Still, Jennings is adamant that fellow 2009 draft class member Holiday — along with Jeff Teague, Ty Lawson, Danny Green and Ricky Rubio — aren’t better than him.
“Third year, (Holiday) made (the All-Star Game) over me because he had Doug Collins as his coach, and Doug Collins was (expletive),” Jennings said during a follow-up stream. “… Doug Collins was over here sending everybody fruit baskets, vote for Jrue Holiday. The (expletive). That sounds like a (expletive).”
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Jennings continued: “I’m a franchise guy. People in Milwaukee came to watch me play. They had my jerseys, bobbleheads. They have none of that (expletive) for none of y’all that’s talking they was better than me. … Bro, I had a signature shoe. I had a signature shoe, dog. I wasn’t an All-Star player but I had a signature shoe. Let’s stop this (expletive).”
Milwaukee selected Jennings with the 10th overall pick. He claims when he criticized Rubio for not attending pre-draft workouts with others from the ’09 draft, it unfairly impacted his stock value. It’s an interesting theory — nothing more, nothing less. Jennings skipped the collegiate level, meanwhile, Rubio debuted in the Spanish ACB League at 14 years old, the youngest player ever to do so.
Jennings intentionally neglects context to strengthen his argument points, easily debunkable with a basic Google search.
Teague, another retired member of the ’09 class, understood where Jennings was coming from, from a competitive standpoint. But logically, Teague couldn’t see eye-to-eye with Jennings, particularly with Holiday dragged into the conversation.
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“Brandon was cold, but Jrue Holiday can guard him,” Teague said on the “Club 520 Podcast.” “He can’t guard Jrue Holiday. He’s too little. He’s too little.”
Teague spent his final season, first with the Celtics — in 2020-21 — and then with the Bucks, playing alongside Holiday during their championship run. The 2015 All-Star was caught off guard hearing his name brought up and continued to offer Jennings a greater dose of honesty regarding his career.
“I don’t know why he said my name. I was like, ‘Damn.’” Teague said. “You should kill. You didn’t play with no killers. … You ain’t ever played with no killers. You didn’t have to pass the ball to Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford. And then when you got Josh Smith and them, y’all was ass.”
