So, this guy Rondo…

Rajon Rondo was no stranger to controversy in his career. From hurling homophobic abuse at a referee, to breaking a TV during a film session grilling by coaches in Boston. His own teammates weren’t safe from his wrath - at one point, tension between him and Ray Allen reached such heights that the two had a boxing match. Even the man himself has acknowledged that he can be difficult. 

Many great players have shared this quality (or lackthereof). Michael Jordan once punched Steve Kerr during practice, meanwhile Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal fueded throughout their tenure together in Los Angeles. And who can forget the modern twist on teammate fallouts when Lebron James took to Twitter to subliminally send Kevin Love a message. Despite this, they all won championships together. However, it’s perhaps Rondo’s tendency to clash with others, everyone in fact, that may not have just derailed a single season, but closed the book on an entire era of success in Dallas… 

Rajon Rondo knows what it’s like to win. When he was just 22 years old, in his second season in the NBA, Rondo was the starting point guard on the 2008 championship-winning Boston Celtics. Two years later, he made it to the finals again. And on his way there, he effectively gave the kiss of death to Lebron James’ first spell in Cleveland. Some will say that he outplayed the reigning, back-to-back MVP. Eventually, in the twilight of a fantastic career, he made it back to the mountain top, with Lebron, and even more unbelievably, in a Lakers uniform. One day, he might even make the Hall of Fame. 

But in the 2014-2015 season, those days for Rondo, at least in Boston, were firmly in the rearrview mirror. His teammates from that 2008 championship, namely Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, were Celtics no longer. And the winningest franchise in NBA history was also winning no longer - they were rebuilding, and suddenly, after eight and half years, Rondo’s face no longer fit in Boston. 

Now or Never

In December 2014, the Dallas Mavericks were one of the best teams in basketball, and they were scoring more points per game than any team in the NBA. They weren’t stopping other teams from scoring either, but that’s beside the point - they were winning. 

After one of the most remarkable championship runs in sports history in 2011, the Mavericks’ window of contention had seemingly slammed shut in rapid time. In the lockout-shortened 2012 season, they laboured to an unspectacular 36-30 finish, before being unceremoniously dumped out of the playoffs by Oklahoma City. In 2013, they didn’t even make it that far. Last season, they showed signs of life, rallying to take the eventual champion San Antonio to 7 games. Still, they had not made it past the opening round of the playoffs since 2011. 

Franchise legend Dirk Nowitzki was 36 years old. If the Mavericks were going to make another run, it was now or never. That’s why in June, after finishing with a bottom 10 defence in 2014, Dallas swung a trade to bring Tyson Chandler back to town. On one hand, the 7-footer would turn 32 in October and came with a huge near-$15 million salary. On the other, he was 2 years removed from being named Defensive Player of the Year, 1 year removed from being a member of the All-Defensive First Team and also was the defensive anchor of the 2011 championship team. His expiring contract, and the fact that they essentially gave up nothing of real value, made it a no-brainer for Dallas.

Then, in July, the Mavericks added some much needed quality and versatility to their forward line when Chandler Parsons inked a 3 year, $46 million contract in one of the more remarkable moves of the time. Parsons, a second round pick in 2011, was set to earn just $965,000 in the final year of a 4 year rookie contract, and his excellent play in Houston (16.6 points per game, 5.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists with shooting splits of 47.²⁄₃₇.0/74.2 during 2013-2014) had made his deal undoubtedly one of the best-value contracts in the NBA. 

Parsons’ eventual arrival in Dallas was the result of Dwight Howard’s signing with the Rockets, both players being represented by Dan Fagan, and his negotiation led to Houston declining Parsons’ 4th year option. The story, and Parsons’ finessing of the Memphis Grizzlies 2 years later, deserves its own deep drive. 

Elsewhere, the Mavericks made tertiary moves to bolster their roster, adding veterans such as Richard Jefferson and Jameer Nelson (who would eventually form part of the package for Rondo) to their core which consisted of 2 20-point scorers in Nowitzki and Monta Ellis. And they still had coach Rick Carlisle, widely regarded as one of the finest in the association and the man responsible for leading the organisation to their first championship. No doubt it was a solid team, a team that would be one of the better in the Western Conference, but championship contention seemed unlikely for this group.

A surprising start sees the Mavericks take a gamble

However, the Mavericks flew out of the gates. After a tough 1-point opening day loss to the Kawhi Leonard-less defending champion San Antonio Spurs, Dallas raced to a 19-8 start. At this point, the Mavericks were scoring an average of 110.1 points per game, more than any other team in the NBA. At this point, Dallas’s 3 leading scorers, Monta Ellis, Nowitzki and Parsons were averaging 20.6, 18.5 and 16.7 points per game respectively, demonstrating the balanced approach the Mavericks were taking to win games. 

Highlights in this stretch were two separate win streaks of 6 and 5 games, including 107-80 and 140-106 dismantalings of the Charlotte Hornets and the Los Angeles Lakers, as well as a 106-102 victory over the then-13-3 Toronto Raports, and a double overtime victory in Chicago against the Bulls. Then, on December 18th, came the move. 

After a typical Rondo performance in a win over the Orlando Magic (13 points, 7 rebounds, 15 assists and no free throws taken), the 28-year old was traded to Dallas (with Dwight Powell). In return for the 4-time All Star, the Celtics would receive Jae Crowder, Nelson, Brandan Wright, a first and second round draft pick in 2016 and a $13 million trade exception. 

Despite Rondo’s pedigree (a 4 time All-Star, 4 time All-Defensive and 1 time All-NBA member), his play, and consequently his value, had slipped in the previous couple of seasons. First, a torn ACL had ended his 2012-2013 season, and caused him to miss much of the 2013-2014 campaign too. Then, prior to this season, he suffered a broken hand after falling at home, requiring surgery, and missing the entirety of the Celtics pre-season. After averaging 13.7 points and 11.1 assists on 48.4% shooting from the field in 2012-2013 pre-ACL injury, he was averaging just 8.3 points (but still 10.8 assists) on just 40.3% shooting and a ghastly 33.3% from the free throw line (although he was only averaging 1.6 shots per game) through his first 22 games of the season. His declining play, health, expiring contract, and the Celtics desire to go in another direction brewed the perfect storm for his departure from Beantown. 

Inconsistency and a Freak Injury

Still, from Dallas’ perspective, after their impressive start to the season, the move for Rondo represented a gamble worth taking. And it was seemingly business as usual in the immediate aftermath of the trade, with Dallas winning 7 of the first 9 games with Rondo. In his return to Boston on January 2nd, Rondo was immense, scoring 29 points, and even going 5-for-7 from 3-point range for a career high, especially impressive given Rondo was a sub 30% shooter from 3 in his career to this point. 

Post-Boston though, the Mavericks began to falter, going 7-7 throughout the remainder of January. Perhaps still trying to adjust to life with his new team, Rondo struggled. Against the Brooklyn Nets on January 5th, he scored just 2 points on 1-for-13 shooting, though his 14 assists, including key set-ups in overtime, meant the Mavericks still managed to win at Barclays Center. However, they weren’t so lucky in Los Angeles 5 days later, going down by 20 points against the Clippers with Rondo scoring 2 points on 11 shots in 27 minutes of play

An overtime win against Sacramento in which a Rondo 3-pointer essentially won the game was a personal highlight before a concerning streak of results ocurred later in the month. Towards the end of January, Dallas lost four games in a row against Chicago, New Orleans, Memphis and Houston (all playoff teams) including a 0-point performance by Rondo against the Rockets. 

The icing on the cake was on January 31st when the point guard was forced out of the game after just 90 seconds in Orlando after inadvertently hitting his face on Richard Jefferson’s knee during a scramble, fracturing his nose and left orbital bone in the process. Rondo would miss the next six games, but the Mavericks managed to keep their head above water, even coming back from an 11-point deficit to collect a big win over playoff rivals Portland in overtime, Parsons scoring 10 during the additional period. Despite this, there were a couple more concerning results against the upper echelon teams in the Western Conference, especially on February 4th where eventual season MVP Stephen Curry scorched them for 51 points in Oakland. 

Trouble on the Horizon

Rondo would make his return on February 19th in Oklahoma City, but was thoroughly outplayed by Russell Westbrook, who had 34 points and went 14-for-14 from the line. Even more devastating for the Mavericks was their heinous offensive performance, being held to 29% field goal shooting and committing 13 turnovers in the first half alone. 

Perhaps the first major cracks in the Rondo-Dallas tenure showed during a game against Toronto 5 days later. Midway through the 3rd quarter a visibly frustrated Carlisle called a timeout before the coach and Rondo had a heated exchange, seemingly over Rondo ignoring a play called by his coach. Carlisle would bench Rondo for the remainder of the game, instead calling on veterans Devin Harris and J.J. Barea, who would steer the Mavericks to a 99-92 victory. The events that unfolded would result in the team giving Rondo a 1-game suspension, causing him to miss the shorthanded-Mavericks’ loss in Atlanta. 

Even with tension seemingly brewing between point guard and coach, Dallas remained in a strong position after the Toronto victory, with their 39-20 record ensuring they remained amongst the Western Conference’s elite. 

However, the Mavericks then stumbled towards the finish line, going 11-11 in their final 22 games, with Rondo playing all but one (a 144-143 double OT victory in Denver, where point guard Raymond Felton would score a game-winning layup with 2 seconds remaining). Even more concerning when looking forward to that year’s postseason was that Dallas won just 4 of their 12 games against playoff teams to end the year, including heavy losses against Portland, Golden State (twice), Cleveland and San Antonio (though it should be noted that Parsons did miss much of the end of the season due to knee and ankle issues). 

Their lackluster play to end the season meant that they would match up with the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs. The Rockets, led by MVP runner up James Harden, had managed to win 56 games in 2014-2015, which was especially impressive given Dwight Howard had only managed to play in half of that year’s games.

Game 1 was competitive through the first half, but in the final 2 quarters the Rockets kept Dallas at a distance, never surrendering their lead on the way to a 118-108 victory in Houston. More frustrating from a Dallas perspective though was Parsons seemingly aggravating his knee injury which caused him to miss the fateful game 2 and eventually the rest of the series.

The End of the Road 

Unlike Boyz II Men, Rick Carlisle had no problem letting go when he pulled Rondo for the final 23 minutes of the game 2 loss against Houston. The first major issue came midway through the 1st quarter, when Rondo was unbelievably called for an 8-second violation, to the bafflement of his coach. Later, Rondo displayed a complete lack of effort defensively, before drawing the ire of the referees for repeatedly jostling with Harden, eventually receiving a technical foul in the 3rd quarter. Seconds later, he picked up another foul, his 4th of the game, and was hauled out of the game for good. That was his last action as a member of the Dallas Mavericks, and the point guard would be accused of quitting on the team. 

Rondo was held from the remaining games of the series, with a back injury being cited as the reason for his absence. Meanwhile Parsons wouldn’t play again that season, as he would undergo knee surgery later that summer. The Mavericks eventually crashed out in a 4-1 gentleman’s sweep. 

The Aftermath

In case it wasn’t obvious enough that Dallas and Rondo were very much done with each other, Rondo was supposedly not given a playoff share by his teammates. To the surprise of no-one, he did not return that off-season, signing a 1-year, $10 million deal with lowly Sacramento. 

Dallas tried to fix their point guard issue by bringing in former All-Star Deron Williams. Unfortunately, he was very much at the end of the road too, and the Mavericks would squeak into the playoffs with a 42-40 record, before being eliminated by Oklahoma City in 5 games. This would be the last time Nowitzki would play playoff basketball in his incredible 21-year career. 

Rondo’s reflections on his time in Dallas has varied in the years since, denying that he quit on the team and stating that Carlisle no longer wanted to coach him, but expressing that the Dallas organisation treated him well, and that they’re ‘all good people’.

Carlisle expressed regret over making the move to bring Rondo to Dallas, citing issues with the team’s makeup not playing to Rondo’s strengths, but offered praise, calling Rondo ‘great’. 

Did it really matter anyway? 

In a word - yes, but not because it derailed a potential championship winning team. 

Dallas’ offense was spectacular to start the season, but there were two key issues. 

Firstly, was this sustainable? Secondly, as alluded to, they couldn’t stop other teams from scoring. 

At the time of the trade, Dallas was averaging 110.1 points per game, #1 in the league, but they were also allowing their opponents to score 102.7 points per game, which was the 7th most in the league. The move for Rondo was undoubtedly seen as a way to improve this given his reputation as a defensive player to that point. For all their success early in that season, matching up against the likes of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson (Golden State), James Harden (Houston) and Damian Lillard (Portland) in the playoffs with a backcourt of two less than stellar defensive players in Nelson and Ellis was not ideal. By the season’s end, with Rondo, they were still averaging 105.2 points per game (3rd) and had the 5th best offensive rating, but their defense remained mediocre (25th in opposition points per game, 20th in defensive rating). 

What’s also worth considering when discussing the Rondo trade is what they gave up. While none of the pieces were ‘game changers’ you could argue that the departures of Brandan Wright and Jae Crowder played bigger roles than you would’ve initially thought. Wright in particular was excellent to start the 14-15 season, averaging 8.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks on 74.8% from the field in just 18.7 minutes per game in his 23 games with Dallas that year. The Mavericks were missing a big man to back up Chandler after Wright’s departure, which might be why they signed a very much past his prime Amar’e Stoudemire in February. 

Crowder, while less of a key rotation piece to start the season in Dallas, would play a significant role on some improving Boston teams, culminating in a Conference Finals appearance in 2017. Crowder might’ve been able to provide some relief for Parsons during his injury struggles. 

At that year’s trade deadline, a couple of significant trades were made at the point guard position that serve as interesting what-ifs for this Dallas squad. The Miami Heat acquired Goran Dragic (an All-NBA member in 2014), and the Celtics added Isaiah Thomas, both from the Phoenix Suns, both in very favourable trades. Acquiring either wouldn’t have addressed the Mavericks’ defensive frailities (in fact, Thomas in particular would’ve surely exacerbated these issues), but could’ve made an already at the time historic offensive team even more impressive. 

So while today we can look back at the Rajon Rondo trade as an absolute disaster because it effectively ruined the last (potentially) great Dallas team of the Nowitzki era, the likelihood of this group making a deep playoff run was slim to begin with. At the time, and still today with the full context given Nowitzki’s advancing age and declining play over his final seasons, it represented a worthwhile gamble for a team looking to make one last run. 

In the end, Rondo would win another championship and retire after a repairing his reputation somewhat in Chicago, New Orleans and eventually Los Angeles, while Dallas would acquire another future superstar 3 years later in Luka Doncic (that’s all I’ll say on that), Dirk Nowitzki would eventually be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and Rick Carlisle would make it back to the Finals with the Indiana Pacers. I guess you could say it worked out well for everyone in the end…