Rajon Rondo Rumors: Building A Celtics-Kings Trade

Time for another round of Rajon Rondo trade rumors.

More from Boston Celtics

Rajon Rondo trade rumors have got their second wind and everyone and their Connect Four partners have their own ideas. The hottest rumor comes from a breakfast shared by Kobe Bryant and Rondo.

From those eggs hatched rumors of Rondo to the Lakers. As we know, rumors aren’t always true. What is a fact, though, is that the Boston Celtics are 5-11 and may need to move on from Rondo. If he’s on the trading block, Danny Ainge’s phone will be blowing up with calls.

An obvious caller has been the Sacramento Kings. New owners wanted to make a splash when they took over and did so with Rudy Gay. That trade ended up paying off–with Gay recently signing an earned extension. In the lanes of a race for the eighth seed, the Kings may have more of an incentive than ever to make a trade for Rondo.

Yannis Koutroupis of BasketballInsiders.com has some ideas.

"They have all of their future picks except for this year’s, and have proven veterans like Carl Landry, Jason Thompson, Darren Collison and Ramon Sessions who could help the Celtics now, along with young talent in Ben McLemore and Nik Stauskas. Their interest in Rondo dates back several months now, so they too seem eager to do whatever it takes to land him whenever the Celtics make him available."

So what works? Well, the Kings could flip Jason Thompson, Ben McLemore and Nik Stauskas for Rondo. For the Celtics, they would get a grinding big man that they need plus two young, quality shooters (slash assets). Is it worth it for the Kings? It depends on how much they value those young guns. I’m assuming Mike Malone values three-point shooting, which is why that team took outside shooters with consecutive lottery picks. Without them, they don’t have much left and Rondo certainly doesn’t help the spacing for DeMarcus Cousins–which is probably the most crucial part of a deal.

The Kings would love to trade Thompson/Landy and Collison for Rondo, but the Celtics have no reason to do that. Neither of those three Kings are building blocks or particularly valuable assets.

Given that Collison has gelled with the team so well and that this team is putting its outside shooters to good use, I don’t believe it to be in the best interests of the Kings to make a Rondo deal. What they need is a stretch-4. The point guard position is at a comfortable place right now, and Rondo may not be the deal to rock the boat with.

More from FanSided

Home/Boston Celtics