NOVEMBER 23: Rondo has officially signed his contract with the Hawks, the team announced in a press release.
“Rajon is an intense competitor, a proven winner and a true student of the game,” Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk said in a statement. “His resume and experience speak for themselves. We’re excited to add him to our group.”
NOVEMBER 21: The Hawks are signing free agent point guard Rajon Rondo to a two-year, $15MM deal, league sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The contract won’t feature any team or player options, tweets Mark Medina of USA Today.
The Lakers and Clippers were both reportedly interested in signing Rondo as a free agent, but he’ll return to the Eastern Conference with a Hawks team that values his leadership and locker room presence and will be pushing hard to make it back to the playoffs in 2020/21.
Rondo is the third veteran free agent that has agreed to sign with Atlanta since free agency opened nearly 24 hours ago, joining Danilo Gallinari and Kris Dunn. As Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN notes (via Twitter), the Hawks entered free agency determined to improve defensively in the backcourt, and will do so by adding Dunn and Rondo to the mix.
Rondo played an important role in helping the Lakers capture the NBA title in Orlando this past season. He suffered a fractured right thumb shortly after arriving at the Disney World complex, but was able to return in time for the playoffs, averaging 8.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.6 assists off the bench in 16 games. He turned down a minimum-salary player option in order to reach free agency.
Frank Isola of SiriusXM NBA Radio first reported earlier in the week that the Hawks were expected to offer two years and $15MM to Rondo. As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, the club still projects to have upwards of $20MM in cap room available, so another splash – such as a potential offer sheet for Bogdan Bogdanovic – remains possible.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hawks looking good all of a sudden
Not good enough for any real contender to worry about, thought.
don’t care, let us have this lol….that being said I hope Rondo has learned to dribble and shoot with his 3rd eye cuz he seems to break a finger every other dribble
Looking good for signing bench warmers and a map content? Wow
Nice payday for Rondo. At least he didn’t go to the Clippers.
Thank god not clippers!
Clippers are a joke. Not many lining up to play with Kawaii and George
Except when you overpay Marcus Morris haha
Everyone in LA is taking their rings and going elsewhere next season.
Could care less about Lakers. But getting Harrell Trumps anything they can’t do now. They are assured of west finals. Team to beat in west.
I don’t think it’s as certain as you believe. They lost a few of their championship pieces, and they didn’t really get a full offseason to rest.
Nothing is assured in the NBA. They definitely look the best on paper, but Dallas is sneaky, the Clippers still have Kawhi as of today, Portland is looking reloaded, Golden State will still fight without Klay, Phoenix will be a darkhorse.
I’m sure Denver and Utah will be tough again as well
Portland has zero chance of competing with lakers. Lakers are better than last year and that says a lot. Bench is deeper and still have 2 of the 5 best players in league.
Y’all got worse defense and shooting than last year, though the individual players themselves are better. Also keep in mind you didn’t really get an offseason and you lost some key role players. The chemistry will be different.
If Portland keeps any sort of health, which they are never able to do, I like their team. Covington is a good piece. They’ll have a starting lineup of Dame/CJ/Hood/RoCo/Nurk with a bench of Ant/GTJ/DJJ/Melo/Kanter
Uh sorry bud, off-season ain’t over. Last years narrative was we were all defense and no offense now it’s the opposite lol. The last time I checked lebron, ad, caruso, Mathews, mcgee in smaller role are all great defenders. Schroder is also no slouch and rated better than regular season rondo in offense and defense. Again they are in talks to either bring back kcp or sign and trade for bogdon. I also suspect that Tristan Thompson is on there radar. Kcp and thompson are great defenders.
Lmao, this dude really said lakers got worse we lost rondo (didn’t rate well defensively) and bradley (didn’t play in playoffs) and we added 6th man of the year and the runner to the 6th man. Lost green but picked up Mathews who rates the same in defensive wins shares. Worse? Nah, that’s you just being jealous on what in store for lakers. Sad fact is they ain’t done yet! Standby.
You have zero chance of being correct.
Look I hope I’m wrong but Harrell is coup. Schroeder eases the loss of Rondo and Bradley. Warriors Im rooting for. Wiseman is my guy. Hope he plays like a beast.
Phoenix and Dallas look very good. GS overpaid dearly for Obre with luxury tax. Clippers turning into a dumpster fire, Morris overpaid. Lakers getting stronger.
“Meanwhile a live look into Houston”
No wat the Lakers could pay Rondo 7.5 per year. Lebron is the modern day Arnold Palmer. making everyone around him rich
This Laker team is worse on defense and shooting and gritty play. They signed below average defenders and shooters. I will wait and see who else they are able to sign before seeing if they can make western finals .
I’ll wait to see if the overhyped clippers actually make the western conference finals for the first time in franchise history before seeing if they can make the nba finals let alone win them ! I say less then zero chance
You do realize last season LAL was the 20th team in shooting, which means their shooting wasn’t even at Playoff level, but they won it all, lesson for you “shooting is way overrated” nice skill but hoops is about a lot more than shooting, just a bonus not a must if you ask me!
This Laker team is worse on defense and shooting and gritty play. They signed below average defenders and shooters. I will wait and see who else they are able to sign before seeing if they can make western finals .
Didn’t think they do it after Dunn. Hawks looking serious about next yr lol.
Clippers are imploding. Can’t wait to see what they do now.
Hawks are adding some grit and toughness. On paper, Trae/Rondo/Gallo/Collins/Capela/Hunter/Reddish/Dunn and if they add Bogdanovic, that’s a playoff squad in the East.
Great offseason by them
Can afford him now, lakers are in talks for sign and trade and signing rondo hurts there chances of outright signing him. We shall see
Remove Hunter and Reddish who have been garbage so far and put Huerter in the list who is severely underrated and I like your statement. Huerter gets no respect and he is easily the best player of the three when you watch. Reddish and Hunter are at or below league average at almost every usable stat. I know they are young, but so is Huerter.
Worst part is, Hunter was supposed to be 3&D, but he didn’t do either. Reddish at least tries to play defense, mainly because he has to know he has below league average value offensively.
My kids high school team could contend in the East.
Knicks should have been in on Rondo. No indication they ever were. First thing in the FA period I can be critical of. If he was willing to go to rebuilding team, Knicks would have been a better choice.
Playoff Rondo. My man gettin paid. Go on with your bad self! Congrats!
@jbar. Lebron makes everyone around him rich. Congrats to Do!
I hear you , give Bron his props but in the bubble Rondo did some of his best work without Bron being on the floor. He orchestrates the offense putting guys in the right spots and getting them the ball in posotion to be most effective.
position
Congrats ranjo rondo,you deserve the money! If only the lakers had it…
Good job by the Hawks putting a team together, they were fun to watch last year, they could be in the 45 win territory this year if things fall right.
Hawks second unit with Rondo Dunn and Hunter going to be bad from three point land
Rondo has been much better from 3 since his Celtics years. 35 percent