The One Year Anniversary of the Rajon Rondo Trade

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the Dallas Mavericks blockbuster trade with the Boston Celtics to acquire Rajon Rondo.

In a move that sent the NBA world buzzing, the Boston Celtics finally decided to trade Rondo, along with Dwight Powell to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for a 2016 top-7 protected first round pick, Jae Crowder, Brandon Wright, and Jameer Nelson.

For a Mavericks team that was struggling on the defensive side of the ball in the backcourt, the move was welcomed by fans as Dallas just brought in a former NBA champion who was arguably one of the best point guards in the game.

At the time, the price that the Mavs paid for Rajon Rondo seemed to be at the right price.

Jae Crowder was logging just 10 minutes a game off the bench while Wright had carved his role out as the primary backup to Tyson Chandler. The least valuable asset of the package was actually the guy who logged the most minutes for the Mavs in Jameer Nelson.

The biggest asset that was sent to the Celtics was obviously the first round pick for next year. A pick that would not only provide the Mavs with another young piece, but also hinders the Mavs this coming trade season with the lack of picks to package.

Obviously, looking at how the trade worked out in the long run, it’s easy to sit back and crucify the Mavs front office for the deal that didn’t work out. But it’s a deal that I would have done without even thinking.

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Two bench players, an aging point guard, and a late first round pick in a weak draft for a former all-star, championship winning point guard still below 30 years old? Absolutely.

What strengthens my argument even more?

The impressive play from Rondo this season in Sacramento.

Rondo, this season, is everything the Mavs thought he would be for the Mavericks last winter. He is distributing the ball back at his all-star rate at 11 assists per game while also averaging more points this season (12.6) than in the last FIVE seasons of his career.

THIS is the Rondo that the Mavericks organization, Mavs fans, and the league thought was arriving in Dallas last December. Not the player that actually showed up.

Imagine if the Mavericks got the Rajon Rondo of 2015-16. Would they have went past Houston in the first round of the playoffs? How would the offseason have worked out in re-signing him? The trade would have been praised by everyone if that had happened.

Dec 18, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Rajon Rondo (9) looks on in the fourth quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. The Timberwolves won 99-95. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

A lot has happened since that trade for the Mavericks, but what still remains is the young bright spot in Dwight Powell. Powell has carved out some minutes off the bench and could be a part of the future or a nice trade piece during this trade season.

For the Celtics, Brad Stevens seems to have enjoyed the results with Jae Crowder as he talked about the trade on the one-year anniversary…

"“I knew he shot 34 percent from the corner 3, I knew people had told me that they thought he could be a pretty good player, I knew he was tough when he played at Marquette. And I knew nothing else. So Im really happy that he was included in that trade.” -Stevens (Per Chris Forsberg, ESPN)"

Oh Brad, of course you are happy and as a Mavs fan, I’m happy for Crowder too as he got his chance.

Next: Four Mavs that Finished Off the Grizzlies

Both teams have moved on, but a shadow still remains. A shadow that will linger until the Celtics use that draft pick next summer. A shadow that shouldn’t even exist.

It was a classic example of a team who knew they didn’t have a championship roster, making a high risk/high reward trade that simply didn’t work out.

Nothing more, nothing less.

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