NBA Rumors Round-Up
NBA Rumors: Rondo Happy in Boston
Updated12 hours ago on April 18, 2024
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One day after Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge revealed that he had offered point guard Rajon Rondo a contract extension, Rondo said he wouldn’t mind staying with the Celtics for the rest of his career.
“I like to stick to the script,” Rondo said before the Celtics played the Oklahoma City Thunder Friday night at TD Garden. “I don’t like change much. I wouldn’t mind staying here the rest of my career. Things don’t always seem to go that way, but like I said before, it’s just a business. I wouldn’t mind extending another 10 years in Boston.”
Boston has been good to Rajon Rondo and if he truly doesn’t want to have to get acclimated to a new city and team at this point in his career, his desire to stay with the Celtics for the remainder of his playing days could be real.
However, this would be somewhat surprising given the team’s current rebuild. Also, it’s not completely up to Rondo. Just because he wants to remain in Boston doesn’t mean that Danny Ainge will hold onto him rather than getting back assets for him. Also, Boston may not have interest in giving Rondo “star money,” as Ainge called Rondo’s expected salary, since they’ll likely still be rebuilding when he’s able to enter free agency and get a payday.
This could just be Rondo giving the politically correct answer to reporters. What else is he supposed to say?
»In Related: Boston Celtics Salary Cap Information
Greg Oden admits it: He considered retiring before he turned 25. He, too, wondered if his ongoing knee problems would allow him to play basketball again.
But there was Oden on Thursday night, back on the floor, playing for the Miami Heat in a victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, his fourth game this season after a four-year layoff.
“It was a long four years,” Oden said. “But now I’m back, I’m healthy and I’m just happy to be doing it.”
It’s crazy to think that Greg Oden considered retirement at such a young age, but it makes sense given how many injuries he had early in his career. He had multiple surgeries during that time, including three microfracture procedures, so his future as an NBA player was definitely up in the air.
This just makes his comeback an even better story. This season, Oden has appeared in four games for the Miami HEAT and, at times, looked good.
He’s playing well off of Miami’s bench, and the team’s hope is that he can be available to play a significant role come playoff time.
»In Related: Miami HEAT Salary Cap Information
The losing, the decaying roster, has inspired ‘Melo to consider closely the possibilities of free agency this summer. Within the past several weeks, a longtime confidant of Carmelo Anthony confesses, something changed. Never did he believe there was a chance Anthony would leave the New York Knicks – never the Madison Square Garden stage, never the $129 million contract extension.
Only now, the gloom of the Knicks’ season – the uncertainty of the franchise’s future – left that man to believe it’s possible Anthony could leave New York in free agency.
“Chicago is much more in play for him than L.A.,” the source said.
Wojnarowski goes on to make the argument that Anthony should stay with the New York Knicks. However, it’s interesting to hear that someone close to Anthony believes that the Chicago Bulls are more in play than the Los Angeles Lakers, and that this confidant went from thinking there was no way that Anthony would leave New York to believing it’s possible.
It makes sense that the Bulls would be interested in Anthony, as they’ve wanted to put a second star alongside Derrick Rose for awhile. Considering the team just traded Luol Deng and has strongly considered using the amnesty clause on Carlos Boozer this summer, they’ll have plenty of money to make a run at Anthony.
But Wojnarowski brings up a fair point: “The franchise’s mandate isn’t winning championships, but sidestepping luxury and repeater taxes to turn the fattest possible profits for the owner,” Woj writes of the Bulls.
»In Related: Chicago Bulls Salary Cap Information
