The Boston Celtics will get trade offers this season for Rajon Rondo, but the team is planning on trying to keep him on a long term deal while also targeting Marc Gasol in free agency and both of those players could be potential targets for the NY Knicks, LA Lakers, Miami Heat and Houston Rockets in the summer of 2015.
Rondo has been mentioned in trade rumors for the last two seasons and this past summer reports came out that the Celtics and Sacramento Kings were talking about deal for the point guard, but they later both came out to refute that. According to Pro Basketball Talk, Sporting News NBA reporter Sean Deveney reported that the Celtics will in fact try to keep Rondo despite the trade interest and they also will look to sign Gasol in free agency to pair with Rondo and their young roster.
The Celtics are in a hard rebuild and they are coming into the season with Rondo in the final year of a five year extension. The Celtics want to see if Rondo can make it through the season healthy after tearing his ACL and all major reports so far have Rondo looking to hit the market, even if he ends up staying in Boston. The Celtics have made it clear that they would like to keep Rondo, but just as many reports have come out that he could be traded at some point as well. Rondo wants to hit the free agent market, but he also said he would be open to staying in Boston.
The Houston Rockets, NY Knicks and LA Lakers all could be interested in Rondo if he makes it onto the market and that could drive his price up. The Celtics don't want to get stuck with a huge contract that hampers them going forward and since LA and NY are expected to have tons of cap space, the competition for Rondo could get fierce between teams. Rondo is the new Kevin Love, as he is getting closer to free agency and there are plenty of teams that want to chase him.
Love was a main target for the Lakers, but now that he is with the Cavaliers, the Lakers will have to look elsewhere next summer. Rondo and Greg Monroe are logical targets and while the Celtics will have cap space to battle with other teams, if they are not closer to winning it could be hard to sign Rondo and other players. Rondo comes into the season after playing in 30 games last year and he nearly averaged a double-double and now the Celtics want to see if he can stay healthy all season.
Gasol appears to be the top free agent option apart from Rondo for the Celtics, as he is a more likely player to sign than LaMarcus Aldridge or Monroe, who both have expressed interest in staying with their current teams. Rondo can get the most money from the Celtics and Gasol has been mentioned as a target for the Knicks and the Lakers next summer as well. Rondo will command money and attention on the free agent market and there are endless possibilities about trades that will come up this season.
