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Charles Barkley: Rajon Rondo is ready for free agency (Video)

By Josh Hill

Apr 13, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Rajon Rondo (9) between plays during the first quarter against the Utah Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena. The Jazz won 109-92. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 13, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Rajon Rondo (9) between plays during the first quarter against the Utah Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena. The Jazz won 109-92. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports /
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Rajon Rondo has been under harsh criticism lately, but Charles Barkley proved himself to be Rondo’s biggest hater. 

Rajon Rondo was supposed to help lift the Dallas Mavericks to new heights in the postseason when he was acquired from the Boston Celtics but that has hardly been the case. Rondo was acquired for what amounted to spare parts from Boston but he’s hasn’t lived up to the hype and is actually a major point of frustration for Mavericks fans in the postseason.

LeBron James coined the phrase ‘chill mode’ and it appears that Rondo is a fan of operating this way. LeBron James can get away with it because he’s LeBron James, but things are different for Rondo — who is getting killed for slacking his way through his year with the Mavericks.

At halftime of Game 2 between the Mavericks and Rockets, Charles Barkley was relentless in his criticism of Rajon Rondo for basically checking out of the series less than two full games into the postseason.

This has been a critique of Rondo since he arrived in Dallas, as even mark Cuban has noted that Rondo isn’t the fit the team thought he’d be. Before he was dealt to Dallas, there was growing talks about where Rondo would sign in free agency as his days in Boston appeared to be over.

But there’s no guarantee that he’ll re-sign with Dallas when the season ends as he’s coveted on the open market that he hasn’t even hit yet.

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New York, Los Angeles and other teams struggling to find a star point guard will likely all overpay to get Rondo in town and that’s something Dallas is wholly uninterested in doing at this point. Rondo has not played his way into a big contract, but he knows he’s going to get one anyways and his actions not he court scream that.

He was assessed a technical foul straight out of the half, he committed an 8-second violation while bringing the ball up court and he’s generally looked uninterested in being ‘Playoff Rondo’ — despite the fact he’s playing for a contender.

Barkley is usually outspoken and leans hard into topics he is passionate about. But while people love to disagree with Barkley, it’s hard to go against him in his critique of Rondo and how he’s simply checked out of a series Dallas acquired him to be engaged in.

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