Ten days after the Clippers acquired him in a trade with the Hawks, Rajon Rondo may make his debut for his new team Sunday afternoon, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. L.A. could use help in the backcourt as Patrick Beverley continues to deal with a knee issue that has limited him to one brief appearance since March 4.
Rondo has been dealing with an adductor injury and is officially listed as questionable for the Sunday showdown with the Lakers, tweets Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times. Since the trade, Rondo has been resting and trying to learn the Clippers’ playbook. The veteran guard was averaging a career-low 14.9 minutes per game with Atlanta.
“Just kind of plugging him in, just seeing what he picks up,” coach Tyronn Lue said. “It’s easy to go through plays in practice, but then you got a game on the fly, it is a little different. And I know how smart he is. Just seeing what he picks up and just seeing what we can incorporate while he is in the game and just try to go from there. It is going to be good to see him get on the floor.”
There’s more on the Clippers:
- Nicolas Batum was wondering if he still had a future in the NBA after the Hornets benched him last season, but he learned he was still in demand following his release in November, Youngmisuk adds in a separate story. Batum heard from several teams, but the Clippers were the most aggressive, with Lue, owner Steve Ballmer and executive Lawrence Frank all calling to recruit him, along with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.
- The toe injury that sidelined George for seven games in February has flared up again, writes Mirjam Swanson of The Orange County Register. George was able to play 32 minutes Thursday against the Nuggets, but he was in pain the entire time. “It’s really no pop on the right foot,” he said. “I can’t really bend my toe and have it flexing all the way on that second toe. It’s just figuring it out. I gotta figure it out. Most importantly, if I can play, and play with minimal pain, that’s what I’m going for. We gotta figure it out though.”
- Second-year guard Terance Mann has become a reliable scorer lately, which made the Clippers feel comfortable with trading Lou Williams in the Rondo deal, states Shaun Powell of NBA.com.
Terance Man I wonder what his superpower is.
He got the power to Terrance
They should rest PG so he’s healthy for playoffs.All they have to do is win like 10 games to clinch which is do able without him
Thats really the Clippers new problem tho. They never know what they got until seemingly its too late
West gonna be too tough to come in in stagnant…I think they all (KL/PG) gotta play the last 10 with Rondo/Bev to get a feel how its gonna work in the playoffs
Kawhi in particular and PG since he joined LA have been probably the most licentious users of “load mgmt”, at least among stars. To the extent I barely even bother to mark my calendar to watch LAC bc I just assume one or both of them will be “resting” that game.
It definitely hurt them last year too – if for no other reason than the rest of the team began to resent them for preferential treatment. I’m not high on them this year either. IDK if Kawhi is still Toronto level dominant and the supporting cast is pretty mediocre from what I can tell.
A toe injury is actually pretty tough.
Did Jerry West go on a long vacation after the KL signing / PG13 acquisition? Or is it another case of his team’s full time FO people trying to show they can do it on their own? Regardless, I find it hard to believe that the same hand that built the Clips prior to that has been running things since. It’s been a clown show since Rivers’ incomprehensible statements following the PG13 trade; the only things he clearly conveyed were that all the FO moves were his idea if they worked out, and that he had nothing to do with them if they didn’t. Other than signing Batum after a buyout, I can’t think of a single unqualified good move made the FO. Ibaka was a FA coup, to a degree, but it put them in a hard cap regime that CLEARLY they were not prepared to operate under. Rivers being gone is certainly a plus, but Lue appears to just be Rivers-lite, except with some emotion and even, maybe, the possibility of in game adjustments. I heard (on ESPN I think) that Lue might be saving his real coaching for the playoffs (the coaching equivalent of load management). It would explain a lot.
Yeah they don’t need to rush him. Need him for the playoffs. I think he’s a great fit for them. Especially closing out games. Really want to see how he plays. LA vs LA is going to be fun to watch. Hope they meet before west finals.