Rajon Rondo is a free agent this summer and he is one of the top targets for the Los Angeles Lakers, NY Knicks, Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings in free agency, as he is not expected to return to the Dallas Mavericks and after his bad run in the playoffs, negotiations could get very interesting for the point guard with players like Goran Dragic and Reggie Jackson also on the market.
Rondo is one of the top players on the market, but at 29 years old he may not get the max contract he is looking for this summer. Rondo has had a serious injury in the past and this season he was not as impressive or explosive as he was earlier in his career. Rondo was once considered one of the premier defensive players in the league, but since his ACL injury it looks like he has lost a step on that side of the court.
According to Pro Basketball Talk, Rondo is expected to be chased by the Lakers and Knicks, while the Rockets and Kings also may show interest. Rondo reportedly will be looking for a long term deal, but Marc Stein at ESPN writes that if he wants a max contract, he likely will be waiting a long time to get one. Rondo is not the player he once was and with players like Dragic, Reggie Jackson, Jimmy Butler and Greg Monroe hitting the market, teams may not be willing to pony up that much money.
According to Bleacher Report, the Lakers are interested in Rondo as an unrestricted free agent, but they only want him at a "certain price". The report says that team wasn't to sign Rondo at a "discount" and that they could bypass going after him if he demands too much money. The Lakers are also planning to chase Goran Dragic, but they expect him to stay in Miami, where he can sign a max contract for more years than the Lakers can offer him.
Rondo reportedly was expecting to be traded to the Lakers this season and if that didn't happen, he would consider the team the "favorites" to sign him after he finished his Boston Celtics contract and hit the market in the summer. Things did not play out that way (at least so far), as he was traded from the Celtics to the Mavericks and now is a free agent. The Mavericks are not bringing back Rondo and the trade was mostly a failure overall.
Things got so bad that the team did not even give Rondo a playoff share and while Rick Carlisle said it was a "risk worth taking", the team did not get much of a return for their first round draft picks. Rondo comes into the offseason after averaging nine points per game with 8.9 assists this season and 5.5 rebounds in 68 games played. Rondo's numbers were down from he was last season at nearly 10 assists and 11 points per game and that could affect what he gets on the market. The Knicks reportedly will go after the "younger tier" free agents first, but if that fails, the team could end up bringing in Rondo.
The Rockets previously were considered an option for Rondo and with Patrick Beverley coming off of an injury, he could be a target on the market. Dragic was previously with the Rockets and the team could try and woo him to come back after his trade to Miami.