Rajon Rondo Trade Request Untrue, Point Guard Staying With Boston Celtics
No, this is not the case of another Kevin Love. Rajon Rondo clarified that he is staying put with the team that gave him his NBA championship, the Boston Celtics.
The player drafted 21st overall in the 2006 NBA Draft and was consequently traded to the Celtics during draft night for cash denied swirling rumours that he wants out of the green uniform. His agent Bill Duffy through a spokesperson of the agency clarified that the all-star point guard is happy with th current make-up of the team and is ecstatic to lead the young Celtics back into the playoff hunt as per The Boston Herald.
"Neither Bill nor Rajon know where this has come from, but it didn't come from them," Alyson Furch said. "They want this on the record. Neither has spoken to anyone about this."
A lot of the smoke comes from the interpretation of Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck's statements during the summer when he told fans to look out for "fireworks." Many inferred the comment as a move to unload the last chip of the Kevin Garnett-Paul-Pierce-Ray Allen era that won the 2007-2008 NBA championship. Rondo has been the subject of numerous trade issues and in particular has been linked to the Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Rockets have been tied up in the Rondo talks due to their perceived loss during the summers' free agent bonanza. They lost Chandler Parsons, Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin to an assortment of player movements and adding Rondo will help stabilize the backcourt and solidify the team defense. The Rockets still have some assets to entice the Celtics such as Terrence Jones and Patrick Beverley but it would not be enough to fetch the star guard.
Los Angeles and Kobe Bryant will not take the season lying down despite the departure of Pau Gasol. Thus, it is just a logical destination to add a superstar name into the Laker brand. The Kings have let go of Isaiah Thomas and have penciled in Darren Collison as starting point guard, but his days with the Sacramento Kings as lead guard were questionable, thus the interest of the new ownership group to get the versatile guard. For now, all of these are just speculations as Rondo has already quashed all rumours.
The 6-foot-1 assists machine is entering the final year of his contract that will pay him a relatively friendly salary of $13 million. Brad Stevens and his coaching staff have their work cut out for them and the pressure to deliver a winning season to Boston, a franchise not used to rebuilding and being league doormats and they can count on Rondo to be the lead piece to get them out of the bottom.