Is Rajon Rondo The Worst Employee In Sports History?

Boston Globe- After saying that Rondo was out indefinitely with a back injury sustained before he was benched in a Game 2 loss to Houston, coach Rick Carlisle acknowledged Wednesday that Rondo will not play another game for Dallas.

Rondo came in a December trade with Boston and had a shouting match with Carlisle on the court that resulted in a one-game suspension in February. In Game 2, he was pulled after picking up his third and fourth fouls guarding James Harden early in the third quarter, and getting a technical after one of the calls.

While Carlisle could have hidden behind foul trouble as the reason for yet another ineffective game from the player acquired to try to boost Dallas’ playoff prospects, the coach changed everything by leaving Rondo on the bench for good.

The two quick fouls were puzzling, but paled compared to Rondo inexplicably getting called for an eight-second backcourt violation while walking the ball up the court in the first half. His poor defense right after the call led to an easy 3-pointer for Jason Terry.

‘I understand that the announcement that’s been made is going to have different interpretations,’’ Carlisle said Wednesday. ‘‘I am giving you our interpretation of it, and this is fact. From here, we’re moving forward. We've got a series to win and we've got to win Game 3 with the guys that are available.’’

But when asked if the free agent-to-be would wear a Dallas uniform again, Carlisle said, ‘‘No, I don't.’’


That's a serious question. I saw someone write that Rajon Rondo 'opted out' of the playoffs and it couldn't be more true. Just flat out did not show up, and when he did, he put absolute zero effort into winning. The guy got an 8 second call for walking up the ball too slow without facing any pressure whatsoever. That is unheard of. He basically asked the official to give him a technical for pushing James Harden when Harden wasn't even acknowledging his existence. If Tim Donaghy got imprisoned for fixing games then you could make the argument that Rondo should be as well. A player not even attempting to win is as detrimental to the outcome of the game as biased officiating. I mean, it's one thing to tank for a draft pick, but for a starting point guard to not even attempt to play hard in the playoffs is boggling my competitive mind.

Hey Rajon, you want to hate your boss? By all means you are entitled to that. A lot of people hate their boss and still perform their job adequately, and most of those people aren't making MILLIONS of dollars a year. Gee I wonder who is wrong here. The head coach with the championship pedigree,  or the guy who got traded from a place where he couldn't get along with another coach who had a championship pedigree? Pretty ill advised to show the world that you don't care about your coach, your team, or your own perception when you are set to be unemployed in a week. Like even if Rondo played awful, but still looked like he cared, he still wouldn't have cost himself that much money on the open market. However, what is a starting point guard that doesn't like to listen or care about winning worth? Even if a team is completely desperate for a point guard that can't make a 15 foot jumper or a foul shot, what kind of monetary commitment would they be willing to give to a person that has shown no allegiance to anyone but himself? 

Furthermore, how does he even walk into that locker room? How do his peers not literally kill him? A bunch of guys that have worked their ass off their entire life to play at the highest level, and some entitled little alien looking motherfucker is going to jeopardize their chances of winning a championship? Do you understand how much an entire franchise has to hate a player to completely fabricate a season ending injury that doesn't exist? Do you realize how confident a coach has to be to say that a player has played his last game as a member of a team when said team still employs him? I don't care how good Rajon Rondo is at basketball. This may be the most egregious circumstance of an athlete's personality having a bearing on his bank account in sports history.