When veteran point guard Rajon Rondo signed with the Los Angeles Lakers last summer, his expectation was that the team was going to the NBA Finals. Why? The singular presence of LeBron James.
Rondo says he was already planning on how to beat the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference playoffs. The four-time All-Star believed with his and James' IQ, the Lakers could make a run to the Finals and ultimately win it since they had the best player the world.
Unfortunately, the Lakers were riddled with injuries all season, none bigger than the left hamstring injury LeBron suffered on Christmas Day which sidelined him for 17 games. Los Angeles went 6-11 during that stretch and missed the postseason all together.
“Regardless of my roster, LeBron James on my team, my expectation is we're going to the Finals,” Rondo told Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report. “I didn't want to be the guy that doesn't get him there. He's not only the best player in the world but one of the smartest. So you put my IQ and LeBron's IQ versus Draymond Green's. Not to discredit Steph [Curry] or any of those other guys, but all three of us have always been the most vocal guys on the court, and two versus one is better. That's what my mentality was. … It obviously just didn't unfold the way it was supposed to.”
After the Lakers defeated the Warriors on Christmas, they were in the fourth spot in the Western Conference standings. Many believe the Purple and Gold would have made the playoffs had James not gotten hurt.
Rajon Rondo is an unrestricted free agent this summer. It will be interesting to see if there's mutual interest between he and the Lakers.
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