WALTHAM, Mass. — Consider the case of Rajon Rondo’s broken hand closed.
Rondo addressed reporters with his left arm in a sling Monday at Boston Celtics media day after breaking a bone in his left hand last week. The point guard underwent surgery Friday and is expected miss at least the next two months.
He immediately was asked what caused the injury.
“Usually how certain falls happen — you slip,” Rondo said. “I slipped and tried to catch my hand. It wasn’t like a banana slip; I actually almost caught myself, but I landed with my knuckle on the window sill in my home. So, that’s how it happened.”
The Celtics had previously stated that Rondo suffered the fracture in a fall at home Thursday night, but that original statement was met with skepticism from some, especially after a rumor surfaced that Rondo had been at a trampoline park that evening.
So, when pressed for further explanation, Rondo gave reporters a detailed rundown of the events leading up to his unfortunate loss of balance.
“I do spend time with my kids,” Rondo said. “My daughter’s birthday was last week — last Wednesday. I think the video that got out was of me at the trampoline park on Tuesday. I took my daughter to a birthday at a trampoline park Tuesday — Sky Zone in Needham, I think. I did jump. I learned some new tricks with my daughter, had a lot of fun.”
On Wednesday, it was a trip to see “The Lion King” with his daughter, Rondo said, and a softball game (he scored “about three runs” and made “a couple top-10 catches”). Then, it was back to another trampoline park Thursday, this one in Billerica.
“I didn’t jump that day,” he said. “I just let my kids play, run off some steam. … That night, I went home, and that’s when the incident happened. It didn’t happen at all at the trampoline place.”
Rondo said he quickly got the feeling his injury was more than a bruise, and he drove to New England Baptist Hospital for X-rays Friday morning. A few hours later, he was in surgery.
The team pegged Rondo’s recovery time at six to eight weeks, but he said Monday that it could be closer to 10. Though the injury is to his left (non-shooting) hand, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said they aren’t going to rush back their star player.
“We’ll be very cautious with him,” Ainge said Monday. “… People, I think, underestimate how much you use your left hand — not just dribbling and passing, he uses it a lot, but defensively (too). We want to be careful.”
This is the second consecutive season that the Celtics will open training camp — they do so Tuesday — without Rondo, who spent the first half of last season recovering from a torn ACL. Instead of practicing, he says he’ll spend his preseason maintaining his cardio and learning head coach Brad Stevens’ new, more aggressive system.
“The frustration was that day, but the last couple of days, I’ve been fine,” Rondo said. “I’ve been pretty positive. I think for me to go through what I went through with my ACL, this is nothing.”
Photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
