Report: Rajon Rondo plans to sign 1-year, $2.6M deal with Lakers after clearing waivers
Rajon Rondo is inching closer to being back in the Los Angeles Lakers purple and gold.
The 16-year veteran plans to sign a one-year, $2.6 million deal with the Lakers once he clears waivers on Monday, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported. There were reports over the weekend that was Rondo's plan.
Rajon Rondo plans to sign a one-year, $2.6M deal with the Lakers upon clearing waivers today, sources tell ESPN. He agreed to a contract buyout with Memphis on Saturday. Rondo will still make his full $7.5M salary this season between buyout and new deal. https://t.co/ehFzHb6pVC
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 30, 2021
Rondo had his contract bought out by the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday. The sides reached an agreement for the final year of his contract, which was $8.3 million, per ESPN.
He had been traded from the Los Angeles Clippers to Memphis earlier this month in the deal that brought Eric Bledsoe to L.A. Patrick Beverley and Daniel Oturu also went to Memphis.
Rondo is a two-time NBA champion and four-time All-Star. He was only with the Lakers for two seasons from 2018-20. He was an important piece to the championship won in the bubble in Orlando, averaging 7.1 points and 5.0 assists per game throughout the entire season.
He will sign with the Lakers on a veteran's minimum, per ESPN, and take one of the team's three open roster spots available.
Lakers talent returns to LA
Rondo, 35, spent his first nine seasons in the NBA with the Boston Celtics, winning his first in 2008. He was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2014-15 campaign and had spent consecutive seasons with only the Lakers since then. He was with seven different teams since that trade.
As noted by Matt Williams, a statistician with ESPN, the signing will reunite a slew of 2012 All-Star selections in LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Marc Gasol, Dwight Howard, Russell Westbrook and Rondo.
Anthony Davis was leading Kentucky to a national championship at the time. The New Orleans Hornets took him No. 1 overall in the 2012 NBA draft that June.
LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Marc Gasol, Dwight Howard, Russell Westbrook and Rajon Rondo were all All-Stars in 2012, the season before Anthony Davis came to the NBA.
Now they are all teammates in Los Angeles. https://t.co/ncxLACF7O5— Matt Williams (@StatsWilliams) August 30, 2021
Rondo is also not the only former Lakers player returning to Staples Center as a member of the home team. Howard, Trevor Ariza, Wayne Ellington and Ken Bazemore complete the five offseason signings.
Rondo averaged 5.4 points and 4.4 assists in 45 games last season — 27 with the Atlanta Hawks and another 18 with the Los Angeles Clippers. His 40.4% clip from beyond the 3-point line was the best of his career.
