The Boston Celtics may explore a Rajon Rondo trade later this season at the trading deadline and teams like the LA Lakers, Houston Rockets, NY Knicks, Indiana Pacers and Sacramento Kings could be interested in making a move, as the point guard is in the final year of his extension and the Celtics may have just drafted his replacement with Marcus Smart.
According to Pro Basketball Talk, the Celtics have said they want to try and keep Rondo long term and while Danny Ainge is not actively shopping him, he admitted he knows offers will come in. The team has spoken about keeping Rondo long term and after breaking his hand earlier last month, Rondo was expected to miss the start of the season. Rondo now says that he could be back in time for the start of the season and that would be big for both him and the franchise.
The team came into this season knowing that Rondo was a year removed from his surgery and they want to see if he can last the year on his ACL after it was repaired. Rondo also wants to start the season with the Celtics, as he has not made a decision on signing long term and it's likely even if he does, he will want to hit free agency first. Rondo can make more money on the open market and the Celtics want to see where their rebuilding plan is and whether Rondo can stay healthy before giving him major max money.
The NBA offseason in the summer and early fall can be as dramatic as high school and while a ton of trade talk will go down, more often than not nothing happens. Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James are both have made their moves and Kevin Love entered Dwight Howard territory and was traded and now names like Rondo and Greg Monroe could be next to move and Rondo surely will get some strong trade consideration this season before next summer.
The Celtics come into the season after being a lottery team last year and the fact that they drafted Marcus Smart had many teams thinking that the team would trade Rondo. The point guard will come up in trade rumors no matter what since he is on his way to free agency, but the Celtics have said that keeping him is also an option. The Celtics want to sign Rondo long term and they likely will have the cap space to do it. The Lakers and the Knicks will be chasing him as well and that could drive up the price a bit on Rondo.
Pro Basketball Talk has also reported that the Celtics will look to sign Rondo long term while also going after Marc Gasol. Getting a player like Gasol or Greg Monroe could be huge in keeping Rondo, as the
Celtics would be on their way back to being a successful team after rebuilding. The team traded away their stars before last year apart from Rondo and now he is the last one left leading to that championship season. The Knicks and Rockets also see Rondo as a target and the Celtics have to be prepared to pay him big money if they want to keep him.
