New Kings guard Rajon Rondo has thrived in the early stages of his tenure at the helm of the Sacramento offense. The 29-year-old is averaging 15.3 points per game, 5.0 rebounds per game, 6.7 assists per game, and perhaps most impressively 52.6 percent shooting from the field through the first three games of the season. But a lot had to fall into place in order to make Rondo’s Cowtown revival a reality. There was, of course, last season’s Dallas Disaster. Now apparently, Rondo had to hold off a serious attempt by the Celtics, with whom he played the first nine seasons of his NBA career, to keep him in Boston.
According to a report on Monday by Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, Rondo rejected a 5-year, $70 million extension from the Celtics last season before being traded to the Mavericks in December:
Rondo was in the final year of a five-year, $55 million contract with the Boston Celtics when last season began. He was the last player remaining from Boston’s 2008 NBA championship team and appeared receptive to a contract extension. But after Rondo turned down a five-year extension estimated to pay close to $70 million in hopes of landing a maximum contract later, he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks on Dec. 18.
As it turned out, Rondo may have saved the Celtics from themselves. Instead of extending a poor-shooting, post-ACL tear point guard in a league chock full of quality options at the 1, Danny Ainge wound up shipping Rondo out of town for a favorable return (including Jae Crowder and a horde of future draft picks). That opened up the door for the development of former No. 6 overall pick Marcus Smart and enabled the Celtics to trade for Sixth Man of the Year candidate Isaiah Thomas.
Rondo, meanwhile, ruined his market value in his dreadful stay with the Mavericks and was forced to settle for a one-year, $10 million deal with the Kings over the summer. While Rondo may not have wanted to stick around for a full-scale rebuild in Boston, it looks like he wound up costing himself a solid chunk of cash by not doing so.
Nevertheless, the four-time All-Star has looked like a natural fit thus far with the Kings (George Karl relationship deadpans notwithstanding), so perhaps this whole charade worked out for the best.
Image Credit: Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports
H/T NBA Reddit
