Los Angeles Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo was an up-and-coming point guard for a 2008 Boston Celtics team that would go on to win the NBA championship.

Now, as a veteran with the Lakers, Rondo sees some commonalities between his current squad and those '08 Celtics that took the league by storm.

In an appearance on Jemele Hill's podcast, Rondo likened the nature of internal competitiveness between the vets and young players on the Lakers to the 2008 Celtics (via Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo!Sports):

It is worth a listen if only for the story about the time he boxed Ray Allen in the weight room, shortly after Paul Pierce vs. Patrick O’Bryant and Glen “Big Baby” Davis vs. Tony Allen served as the undercard. Rondo compared the chemistry and competition on his 2008 NBA champion Boston Celtics to his current Lakers team, which he “absolutely” believes should be expected to win the championship. But that is only the beginning of an hour-long trip inside the mind of a player whose career has made a wild journey that began with extraordinary genius on a perennial contender in Boston and rode the wave of an enigmatic journeyman before landing with his greatest rivals as the “old head” to another star-laden squad.

Rondo might return action on Friday, and Lakers head coach Frank Vogel said that he expects Rondo to play a major role in the rotation.

The Lakers lack a true point guard outside of Rondo, though LeBron James demands a lot of the ball. Rondo is hardly the most accurate shooter (31.5 percent from downtown in his career), and James and Anthony Davis could benefit from added spacing.

Still, expect Rondo to see quite a bit of run as he acclimates himself alongside L.A.'s dynamic duo.