Rajon Rondo appeared in 46 games for the Los Angeles Lakers last year during what was his 13th season in the NBA. The four-time All-Star and former NBA champion with the Boston Celtics arrived in Los Angeles last summer after spending the previous season with the New Orleans Pelicans. His goal was to join LeBron James in pursuit of his second NBA title but as we all know that’s not how it played out.
Rondo recently sat down with Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report to discuss what went wrong for LeBron and the Lakers, who pointed to the Anthony Davis trade rumors during the discussion. As a veteran who heard his name in trade talks during his time in Boston on an regular basis, Rondo claims to be numb to such speculation. But he did tell Bleacher Report he believes the trade rumors had a negative impact on several teammates who felt LeBron didn’t want them on the team.
Said Rajon Rondo told Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report:
Every guy on our team, LeBron was their favorite player growing up. Everyone had the shoes, his jersey. You’re the biggest fan in the world. It’s like you’re playing with M.J., and then you get there, and it’s like your mom and dad, or the person that you looked up to and idolized, doesn’t want you.
And then to have that sitting in your gut, not knowing. Guys aren’t at the age where they can have a man-to-man conversation versus texting you. Everybody wants to text you: ‘How you doing? We cool?’ People don’t understand how to have a real conversation and talk out problems.
Rondo went on to add that some of his teammates felt they needed to prove themselves on a nightly basis or they were going to be traded. He noted how this mentality or level of uneasiness even lingered after the February trade deadline.
Moving forward, though, maybe going through that experience will help the Lakers’ roster mature as professionals. Especially seeing as how despite the damage all that speculation caused, nobody ended up getting traded for Anthony Davis anyway.
