Rajon Rondo’s decision to sit in a courtside seat — as opposed to the bench, where his teammates were — with the Los Angeles Lakers down double-digits to the Denver Nuggets caused quite the stir among Lakers fans.
Questions were raised about Rondo’s ability as a leader and whether his seat choice was indicative of a larger problem with the organization’s culture. While those might still be valid questions, the Lakers aren’t as concerned with it as others are.
According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. the front office met with Rondo on Thursday and after speaking with the veteran point guard, they decided not to fine him. During that meeting, management reportedly informed Rondo that sitting with the crowd during a game is a violation of league rules, to which Rondo responded saying he was unaware.
What even is this season? Like, what are we actually doing here?
Going forward, Rondo told ESPN that he intends to sit where he’s supposed to, but he still doesn’t understand why certain people think it’s a big deal:
He also balked at any speculation that his decision had anything to do with Alex Caruso, who was called up from the G League earlier this week, eating into his playing time:
Instead, Rondo prefers that people redirect their energy to his teammate, LeBron James, who passed Michael Jordan on the all-time scoring list on Wednesday.
Now, I could take a step back and analyze this incredible spin by Rondo, or I could just enjoy the madness that has been this season like everyone else. Because the Lakers are now 6.5 games back of the eighth seed of the Western Conference and Rondo probably won’t be back with the team next season, I think I’ll do the latter.
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