When Dallas acquired Rondo from the Boston Celtics in mid-December, the team was near the top of the standings and owned one of the league’s best offenses. It was a fun, exciting team to watch, but not one necessarily built to handle the rigor of a championship run.
So the Mavericks traded for Rondo, a former All-Star and champion with the Celtics, and hoped he would eventually become the final piece to the puzzle. At the time, we praised the Mavericks’ leadership for being willing to take a chance and add a potential game-changer to their roster.
It turns out Rondo changed Dallas for the worse, however. Since the Mavericks made the deal, their defense slightly improved, but their offense took a massive step backwards. The net difference was a firm negative for the team, which went 19-8 before the deal and 31-24 afterwards.
Rondo’s numbers also took a huge dip, from a borderline double-double in Boston to just nine points and under seven assists per game with Dallas.
Clashing with Carlisle
One of the challenges with Rondo was fitting him into the Mavericks’ system. A veteran player known for being stubborn and liking to dominate possessions, he was never going to the kind of player you could easily plug into what the team was already doing.
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle learned that the hard way as he struggled to figure out what to do with Rondo. The point guard often found himself benched in fourth quarters as the team went to guys who could actually shoot. Things boiled over in late February when the two could be seen arguing on the sideline during a game.
According to Wojnarowski, Rondo asked, “Why the [bleep] did you bring me here?” to Carlisle during the argument, underscoring the struggles in the relationship between the two. Carlisle and the Mavericks seemed to have a good thing going before Rondo arrived, and it’s possible the past few months have cost Rondo a lot of money on the open market, which he’ll hit this summer.
So a lot of this stuff has been simmering below the surface for a while. Carlisle may have wanted to go to Barea and Felton earlier, but felt committed to keep trying to get Rondo minutes considering his pedigree and what the team gave up to acquire him. With no more time to wait in the playoffs, however, Carlisle is going with his guys, even if it means giving up on Rondo.
Rondo left the Mavericks in the middle of their first-round series against the Houston Rockets. The team announced the day after Game 2 – in which he played less than 10 minutes, sitting all but the first 34 seconds of the second half – that Rondo had suffered a back injury and would not play the remainder of the season.
The Mavericks would only win 1 game (Game 4) in the 2015 playoffs in the 1st round, and Rondo would sign with the Sacramento Kings the following season.
Source: https://www.sbnation.com/2015/4/22/8467121/rajon-rondo-benched-dallas-mavericks-nba-free-agency
Some snippets:
Then this happened…
Source: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/14264682/rajon-rondo-says-disappointing-dallas-mavericks-stint-made-hungrier
The Mavericks would only win 1 game (Game 4) in the 2015 playoffs in the 1st round, and Rondo would sign with the Sacramento Kings the following season.
Thanks. I totally forgot about his time in Dallas