3:20pm: Rondo has been medically cleared to play but is unlikely to see any action in Game 1 against Portland, Vogel said today (Twitter link via McMenamin).
9:05am: Approximately five weeks after suffering a fractured right thumb, Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo is back on the NBA’s campus at Walt Disney World and is set to clear his four-day quarantine on Monday, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. However, as McMenamin notes, it’s not yet clear when Rondo will be able to play.
“I’m not sure exactly when he’s going to be available to be in uniform,” head coach Frank Vogel said during a Sunday conference call. “We’ll get him on the court and see where he’s at. But no specific timetable yet on him.”
When Rondo underwent surgery on his fractured thumb on July 16, the team estimated that he would return to basketball activities in about six-to-eight weeks. That means he still may be at least a week or two away from returning to the court.
Teammate Anthony Davis suggested as much on Sunday, telling reporters that Rondo is “not going to be on the floor with us” for L.A.’s first-round series against Portland, as McMenamin relays. However, AD added that the veteran point guard will “be there helping us out.” According to McMenamin, Vogel said on Sunday that Rondo has actively participated in the club’s coaches’ meetings since being injured.
Without Rondo and guard Avery Bradley – who opted out of the NBA’s restart – the Lakers will continue to lean more heavily on Alex Caruso, Dion Waiters, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (assuming he’s fully healthy), with J.R. Smith and Quinn Cook also moving up on the depth chart.
Gotta root for the ex-Cavs! And both conference top winners that cannot play at home like in the past.
Well they will need Rondo against Blazers.
Go Blazers !!!!
He probably won’t play in the first round at all, unless it goes 7 games.