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Daily NBA Fix: The Rajon Rondo Redemption

By Ben Gibson

Nov 23, 2015; Charlotte, NC, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Rajon Rondo (9) goes up for a shot during the first half against the Charlotte Hornets at Time Warner Cable Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 23, 2015; Charlotte, NC, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Rajon Rondo (9) goes up for a shot during the first half against the Charlotte Hornets at Time Warner Cable Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports /
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Rajon Rondo is rebuilding his image around the league with his performances with the Sacramento Kings, even if the franchise seems to be imploding around him.

Things couldn’t have went much worse for Rajon Rondo at the end of last season. He was effectively fired by the Dallas Mavericks in the middle of a playoff run.

If you need an idea of how low his stock was, watch this beautifully edited “Sacramento Suicide Squad” trailer from Grantland’s Jason Gallagher. R.I.P., Grantland.

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In case you didn’t watch it, Rondo is introduced with the Joker’s lines from the trailer, “Oh, I’m not gonna kill you … I’m just gonna hurt you really, really bad,” while a clip of him and Rick Carlisle arguing in the middle of the game plays. He joined a Sacramento Kings squad that seemed to have little to no direction as an off-season plan.

A 1-7 start brought out the worst in DeMarcus Cousins and calls for coach George Karl‘s (are you the devil?) head.

Going 4-3 since then has quieted the calls for trades and firings, but things are still a bit rocky in Sacramento.

Except for Rajon Rondo.

Monday night he delivered 20 assists in a losing effort to the Charlotte Bobcats and looked much more like the Boston Celtics version of himself and not the Mavericks’ edition. After an average six games to start the season, he’s had 10 or more assists in all but one of the last nine games. During that resurgent period he’s been averaging 14.1 assists a game.

Things have been looking up for the Kings since then, and it doesn’t hurt that Cousins returned from injury as well.

All of this may just be a temporary distraction from what has been an ugly spot of turmoil between Cousins, Karl, and the franchise, but in the middle of it all it looks like Rondo has found a piece of his old self.

KD is Back (Again)

Kevin Durant scored 27 points and grabbed six rebounds in his return to action against the Utah Jazz last night, leading his team to a 111-89 win.

As we saw last season, every game might actually matter as OKC missed the playoffs by just one game. The Thunder are a healthy 9-6 at the moment, but in the Western Conference there is little room for mistakes. As fans we can hope KD stays healthy as the league is a little bit more fun to watch when he’s around.

LeBron Passes Another Milestone

It wasn’t too long ago that LeBron James passed Jerry West on the scoring list, and now he’s passed Norm Nixon on the all-time assists lists, taking 25th place. He also joined Oscar Robertson as the only players to be top 25 in both points and assists.

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Brent Barry joked on NBA TV last night that LBJ seems to pick and choose which milestone he wants to pass on a given night, and so far this season with passing Jerry West in scoring, it certainly feels that way.