The Los Angeles Lakers reunited with veteran NBA point guard Rajon Rondo this offseason.
OFFICIAL: He's Baaaack. pic.twitter.com/ax1JazGJ59
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) August 31, 2021
Rondo agreed to a buyout with the Grizzlies and was released by the team after Memphis had acquired him from the Los Angeles Clippers with Patrick Beverley and Daniel Oturu for Eric Bledsoe.
After that deal, the Grizzlies shipped Beverley off to Minnesota and cut ties with Rondo, opening a path for the 15-year veteran to rejoin the Lakers.
He should provide Los Angeles with a capable backup point guard for Russell Westbrook.
In the waning years of his career, the 35-year-old Rondo seeks his third NBA championship.
After eight-and-a-half seasons with the Boston Celtics, he bounced around the league.
Here’s a look at the three best seasons of his career.
3. 2007-08
In his second season in the NBA, Rondo helped guide the Celtics back to an NBA championship.
The Celtics reshaped their roster that offseason, acquiring Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to create the league’s first Big 3 of the modern era.
Rondo, though, was the team’s unlikely glue guy.
Stepping into a full-time starter role, he posted per game averages of 10.6 points, 5.1 assists, and 4.2 rebounds.
He started all 77 games in which he played and posted a 15.6 Player Efficiency Rating (PER).
Rondo managed a career-high plus-14.1 plus/minus per 100 possessions that season.
He steadied Boston’s starting lineup and often took the challenge of defending the opposing team’s best perimeter player.
With Rondo and the Big 3, Boston defeated their long-time rivals, the Lakers, 4-2 in the NBA Finals.
It was Boston’s first and only title since 1986.
2. 2011-12
The lockout-shortened 2011-12 NBA season almost saw the Celtics topple Miami’s Big 3.
Rondo played in 53 games that season, averaging 11.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game.
He tallied a 17.5 PER, the fourth-highest mark of his career.
His 11.7 assists per game led the league, the first of three times he did so.
Rondo also led the league in triple-doubles that season, registering six that year.
He made his third-straight All-Star team and earned berths on the All-Defensive second team and All-NBA third-team that season.
But his performance in the playoffs really makes this season one of his best.
In the 2012 postseason, the guard elevated his play.
He averaged 17.3 points, 11.9 assists, and 2.4 steals per game in the playoffs.
Rondo and the Celtics even took a 3-2 series lead over Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Rondo scored 44 points in Game 2 of that series alone.
His 22.0 PER in the playoffs that season marks a career-high, and he lead all players in the playoffs with a 54 percent assist percentage.
Rondo might have guided the Celtics to another NBA title had LeBron James not gone supernova in Game 6 of those Eastern Conference Finals.
1. 2009-10
The best season of Rondo’s career came in 2009-10.
That year, the Celtics made it back to the NBA Finals, but lost a heartbreaker in Game 7 to the Lakers.
This season marked the first of four consecutive All-Star appearances for Rondo.
He averaged 13.7 points per game, with 9.8 assists, and 4.4 rebounds.
He led the league with 2.3 steals per contest, total steals (189), and in steal percentage as well.
Rondo registered a career-high 19.1 PER and played a career-high 81 games that season.
His play earned him a spot on the All-Defensive first team and he came in fifth that year in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Rondo played the most minutes of any player in the postseason that year, and helped the Celtics defeat James’ higher-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers.
During that Eastern Conference semifinals series, Rondo averaged 20.7 points, 11.8 assists, and 6.3 rebounds per game.
That lost paved the way for James to leave in free agency and take his talents to South Beach.
Now, Rondo rejoins James with the Lakers.
Rajon Rondo is the only player in NBA history to win a ring with the Lakers and Celtics 🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/N5nQF9vhjq
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) September 4, 2021
Their NBA title win in 2020 made Rondo just the second player in NBA history to win titles with both the Celtics and the Lakers.
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