Los Angeles Lakers: 2018-19 player grades for Rajon Rondo

Strengths

Bringing the 32-year-old Rondo to a team that was grooming 20-year-old Lonzo Ball as its star point guard of the future had all the ingredients of a train wreck in the making.

Rondo has a reputation as a mercurial talent and divisive presence in the locker room. How would he react if asked to come off the bench? How would he feel about an unproven kid taking his spot? How would he respond to an unproven coach (Luke Walton) giving him instructions?

Lonzo Ball is known to be quiet, but his famous father, LaVar Ball, is certainly not. If Rondo was in any way obstructing Lonzo’s progress, LaVar would be the first to let the world know and perhaps cause a rift among the team.

By most accounts, however, Rondo didn’t cause any problems internally on a Lakers team that was routinely surrounded by drama. For that, he deserves credit for proving a lot of people wrong.

On the court, Rondo remains one of the best passers and playmakers in the league.

Had Rondo played enough games to qualify, he would have finished sixth in the NBA in assists with his 8.0 dimes per game. By comparison, the five players who would’ve ranked directly below him — Ben Simmons, James Harden, De’Aaron Fox, Nikola Jokic and D’Angelo Russell — are full-time starters who played at least 30 minutes per game as their respective teams’ primary offensive facilitator.

Considering that Rondo was coming off the bench, that he was not playing heavy minutes, and that he shared the ball with LeBron, his stats this season were impressive.