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Rajon Rondo trade from Celtics would take 2014 first round picks – Metro US

Rajon Rondo trade from Celtics would take 2014 first round picks

The Celtics got a bag of balls in the KG-Pierce deal to put around Rajon Rondo this season. The Rajon Rondo trade rumors are piling up … again. Credit: Getty Images

If Rajon Rondo is to be traded this week, the Celtics will likely have more first round draft picks on their books going forward then they would know what to do with.

With the NBA trade deadline set for this coming Thursday at 3 p.m., Rondo will be one of the biggest names floated in trade rumors this week. According to Bulls.com’s Sam Smith, Danny Ainge’s asking price for the former All-Star point guard is two unprotected first round picks. Grantland.com’s Zach Lowe tweeted later in the day Monday that he had “heard the same.”

Ainge likely covets the first round picks for this coming year’s draft, said to be the deepest in years. The Celtics already have two first round draft picks coming their way this June – their own and either the Atlanta Hawks or Brooklyn Nets first rounder (lower of the two).

The Rondo trade rumors have never ceased this season, as former Celtics TV analyst and current NBCSN basketball analyst Donny Marshall said in mid-December that Rondo is “likely a goner” and that a blockbuster with the Sacramento Kings would be taking place.

“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 at the time. “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.”

Follow Metro Boston sports editor Matt Burke on Twitter @BurkeMetroBOS