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Rajon Rondo, two-time NBA champion, announces retirement after 16 seasons

April 02, 2024

 


This week's "All That Smoke" episode featured Rajon Rondo's announcement that he is no longer playing in the NBA.

In 2006, the Phoenix Suns selected Rondo, then 38, out of Kentucky in the first round of the NBA. Later that evening, he was traded to the Boston Celtics, while Brian Grant went to the opposite team.

Rondo spent portions of nine seasons with the Celtics, where he was a four-time All-Star, won his first NBA championship, was twice selected to the NBA's All-Defensive First and Second Teams, and led the league in steals in 2010. Aside from his debut campaign, he averaged double-digit points per game after establishing himself as a fixture in the team.

After leaving Boston to join the Dallas Mavericks in December 2014, Rondo's tenure there was cut short due to disagreements with head coach Rick Carlisle and damaged ties with his teammates. The fact that Rondo was purportedly excluded from the players' playoff share was already problematic.

Prior to joining the Los Angeles Lakers and leading them to the 2020 NBA championship, Rondo played for three different teams over the course of the next three seasons: the Sacramento Kings, Chicago Bulls, and New Orleans Pelicans. He finished the season with 8.9 points, 6.6 assists, and 4.3 rebounds while playing off the bench for his second career championship.

Rondo last played in 2022 for the Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers, got one more ride with the Lakers, and finally, played with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Rondo told Barnes and Jackson that he's back at school as a full-time student taking a mix of online and in-person classes at the University of Kentucky. He left college early to enter the NBA Draft in 2006 and is now finishing up his degree while coaching his 12-year-old son.

"I'd rather spend time with my kids," Rondo told hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.

 

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