Rajon Rondo decided during Wednesday night’s Los Angels Lakers loss to the Denver Nuggets that he didn’t want to sit with his teammates on the bench, perhaps a sign that he and the rest of the team have given up on this frustrating season.
Rondo grabbed a courtside seat with the Lakers on the way to losing and got ripped for it, even though — as you’ll see from his quote below — this is not the first time he’s pulled off this quirky move. Both Mark Jackson on the ESPN broadcast and Stephen A. Smith thought it was disrespectful in the context of the Lakers falling apart.
Here’s Jackson:
“Look where Rondo is sitting. Unless he’s coming into the game, there’s no excuse for that … That can’t happen. For whatever reason, that can’t happen. … That’s unacceptable.”
Smith was similarly mad:
“These are the Los Angeles Lakers, a culture of championship, pride, purple and gold, Laker Nation! And one of your starting players is sitting in the stands rather than on the bench with the team. It’s just an absolute embarrassment.”
Here’s how Rondo responded:
It’s a big deal now because the Lakers are in free fall.
