The Rajon Rondo trade rumors are piling up … again. Credit: Getty Images
Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo hasn’t played since late January, but he is still among the league leaders in one major category: trade rumors.
Former Celtics TV analyst and current NBCSN basketball analyst Donny Marshall said this week that Rondo is “likely a goner” and that a blockbuster with the Sacramento Kings is on the horizon.
“I don’t like the word ‘sources,’ but from the people I talk to there is a huge deal in the mix,” Marshall said on NBCSN. “And Danny Ainge will say ‘No, no, no.’ It’s not just for Rajon Rondo but other players on this team (may go) to a team out West, the Sacramento Kings … (Rondo) is likely a goner. It’s pretty much a done deal, at some point. And it’s not just Rondo. There will be other pieces, so (Ainge) would disrupt what the (Celtics) are doing now.”
The Celtics have surprised many in the league with their 12-14 record in a season where it was originally thought that they would be in the mix for a top overall pick in June’s stacked NBA draft.
Ainge has made controversial trades before when the Celtics were thought to be overachieving but only had a perceived ceiling of being a slightly-above .500 team. In his first season in Boston’s front office, Ainge traded away favorites of then-head coach Jim O’Brien, in Eric Williams and Tony Battie, in exchange for swingman Ricky Davis and Chris Mihm despite the team having gone on a five game win streak in the days prior to the deal. O’Brien resigned as Celtics head coach a little over a month later.
Follow Metro Boston sports editor Matt Burke on Twitter @BurkeMetroBOS
