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Rajon Rondo Trade Could Actually Get Worse for Mavericks

By Jay Knodell

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The move to acquire Rajon Rondo from the Boston Celtics in December worked about as well as a North Korean missile test. The offense took a nose dive, the defense improved only marginally, and the two parties mutually agreed to part ways in the middle of a playoff series! 

Pretty bad, right?

Well it could actually get worse, and eventually surpass trading for Lamar Odom and letting Tyson Chandler walk after winning the championship as the worst move in franchise history.

Let’s start with the Mavericks. Rondo is gone, meaning Dallas is in dire need of a legitimate point guard. There are a few options out there in free agency but nothing very promising.

Goran Dragic seems to want to stay in Miami. Brandon Knight and Reggie Jackson are restricted free agents and it appears as if Phoenix and Detroit want to keep them around. I’m not so sure either would be a great fit in Dallas anyway.

Patrick Beverley would fit with Monta Ellis in the backcourt should he stick around, but he’s also restricted. Would Daryl Morey let another key player join his franchise’s biggest rival? He might not want to, but he could hope the Mavericks overpay for Beverley and look elsewhere. Who knows, maybe he lands Rondo himself on a discounted deal and the mercurial point guard resurrects his career in Houston the way Josh Smith has. Wouldn’t that be perfect?

After Beverley it’s guys like Jeremy Lin and Mo Williams. Probably not starter quality for the Mavericks, a team that wants to contend for a title.

Another option is to work a trade. Ty Lawson of the Denver Nuggets reportedly wants out of the Mile High City, and it looks like he’d be open to playing for the Mavericks.


Lawson would be my choice over any of the aforementioned, but it’s not happening in large part because of, you guessed it, the Rajon Rondo trade.

Along with Jameer Nelson, Brandan Wright, and Jae Crowder, the Mavericks sent Boston a conditional first round pick and their 2016 second round selection. Dallas keeps the first rounder this year, #21, but it’s not all that enticing for a rebuilding Denver squad and the Mavs can’t even trade the pick until after the draft. They also couldn’t part ways with their 2018 first rounder for the same reason. And without any other assets that would interest the Nuggets, any deal for Lawson is dead before talks could even begin.

So the Rondo trade essentially kills any chances of Ty Lawson for the Mavericks, but it gets worse. Even though it won’t be to Dallas, Lawson is on his way out of Denver and could still end up in Texas.

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If the Houston Rockets feel Lawson is a better fit than Beverley, and they should, they have the assets to make a deal with young talent and the 18th pick in the draft courtesy of the New Orleans Pelicans.

Losing out on Lawson because of the Rondo trade would hurt for the Mavericks, but seeing him land with the rival Rockets would compound the pain, even if it opens the door for striking a deal with Beverley.

And it’s not just Lawson. Other players will change cities via trade this summer but Dallas will have to sit back and watch it unfold, unable to participate in the fun, at least partially due to the trade in December.

So as bad as things worked out for the Mavericks with Rajon Rondo, his ghost could continue to haunt them for years to come.

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