Update (January 1): It appears Rondo and the Bulls are going to try and make things work for now. According to a report from The Athletic, the point guard won’t lose his spot on the team “as long as he stays professional and ready to play:”
More from The Athletic:
A source with direct knowledge of the Saturday night meeting told The Athletic that Rondo wasn’t in any immediate danger of losing his spot on the team, as long as he stays professional and ready to play.
The feeling throughout the organization is that Rondo has been a positive off-court presence since signing with the Bulls in July, outside of an incident with assistant coach Jim Boylen during a Dec. 3 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Rondo was suspended for one game after that incident, missing the Dec. 5 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. At the time, Rondo’s teammates and coaches came to his defense, with Jimmy Butler calling him a “phenomenal damn teammate.”
Original Story: The Rajon Rondo experiment in Chicago may be over before it really starts. With a healthy Michael Carter-Williams back in the Bulls rotation, Rondo has been glued to the bench and picked up a DNP-Coach’s Decision in last night’s blowout loss to the Bucks.
Following the game, Rondo made it sound like his days in Chicago may be coming to an end, telling ESPN that he and GM Gar Forman “will talk” and he will “absolutely” try and find a new team if he doesn’t get minutes:
“Gar and I will talk,” Rondo said. “We’re going to talk tonight and we’ll go from there.”
Rondo acknowledged that if the Bulls continue to keep him on the bench, he will speak to management about trying to find a new team.
“Absolutely,” he said.
Rondo acknowledged that he expected things to be different playing with Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler, but head coach Fred Hoiberg told him that he would be still be able to call his own plays:
“I’m coming off a pretty good year in Sacramento,” Rondo said. “I was able to do a little bit of things differently, but obviously I knew coming in here playing with Dwyane and Jimmy would be different. That was OK with me. Fred and I talked in the beginning, said I would be able to call a lot of the plays. But the flow of the game and throughout the season, things may change. Fred and I spoke earlier, and we talked about it.”
Since being traded from Boston in the 2014-15 season, the point guard has bounced around between Dallas, Sacramento and Chicago. He is averaging 7.2 points, 7.1 assists and 6.5 rebounds for the 16-18 Bulls. Earlier this season, he was suspended for “conduct detrimental to the team” after he reportedly threw a towel at an assistant coach.
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