The Boston Celtics will get offers for a Rajon Rondo trade this season with the point guard heading into free agency and some teams that could be interested include the NY Knicks, Houston Rockets, LA Lakers, Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers, but if the Celtics play well in 2014-15, Danny Ainge may hold off on making any deals involving Rondo.
Pro Basketball Talk reported before the season that the Celtics will try and keep Rondo while also going after another big free agent and that player likely will be Marc Gasol. The Celtics love Gasol and he is one of the top names heading to the market and teams like the Lakers and Knicks will also be gunning for his services. The Houston Rockets, Lakers, Knicks, Pacers and Kings all could be interested in Rondo, but since the Celtics are likely going to ask for a big package for a player that may not sign an extension, a trade may not end up working out.
The Celtics and Rondo have been mentioned in trade speculation over the past two years and now that Rondo is heading towards free agency, those rumors should pick up even more. Reports over the past few months have gone back and forth, with some reporting that the Celtics will consider trading Rondo, while others have speculated that the two likely will stay together for this year into next summer. Both sides make sense, as the Celtics want to see if they can keep Rondo, while the point guard likely will make a ton of money as a free agent, so he is in no rush to get traded.
The Lakers will have money to spend next summer and they are hoping Kevin Love will hit the market, but that is not likely to happen. The Cavaliers will be interested in keeping Love long term and the Lakers may have to look at some other options. Rondo has long been considered a target for the Lakers, while Goran Dragic also could be a target. Last summer Pro Basketball Talk reported that the Lakers were interested in Dragic and that could be the way the team goes if Rondo stays in Boston or signs elsewhere.
The Celtics actually were mentioned in the Kevin Love trade rumors early on because of their draft picks, but that talk quickly dissipated. The Cavaliers are likely to sign Love to an extension, but recently some reports have come out that say Love will opt out of his deal after this season to sign another contract and he could sign with a team like the Lakers. LA was one of the teams gunning for Love as a free agent before he was traded and they hoped he would make it to the market this summer.
Rondo came back last season after ACL surgery and looked very good over the final 30 games, averaging nearly a double-double in that time on points and assists. Over the final few weeks of the season Rondo did average a double-double and no matter what happens, he will be the most coveted free agent on the market. Kevin Love was once considered to be the top name that would be in free agency, but after his trade to the Cavaliers, it now has shifted to Rondo.
