With a coach and owner reportedly feuding over whether they should trade their star player — just two years after the franchise came close to shipping out of town — the Sacramento Kings are kind of a mess right now. That hasn’t scared off Rajon Rondo, though.
Rondo reportedly is interested in signing with the Kings as a free agent, and the former All-Star point guard apparently believes his value still is high. The 29-year-old unrestricted free agent wants $10 million, according to Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix, accounting for “all of” the Kings’ available cap space.
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This number would be a pay cut for Rondo, who received $12.9 million last season in the final year of the five-year contract extension he signed with the Boston Celtics in 2009. But demand for Rondo has cooled since a midseason trade to the Dallas Mavericks, where he clashed with coach Rick Carlisle. Worse, he also played poorly.
Perhaps Rondo and the Kings are a match made in heaven, however. Owner Vivek Ranadive reportedly is investigating whether he can fire George Karl, who was just hired as Sacramento’s coach in February, over the latter’s alleged desire to trade star center DeMarcus Cousins. If there’s any place Rondo, a mercurial type who has thrived amid controversy when he hasn’t created it himself, would fit in, it would appear to be Sacramento at the moment.
This isn’t the first time Rondo and the Kings have been connected. The Celtics and Kings are believed to have talked about a possible trade at the deadline two seasons ago, but reports last summer indicated Rondo would not sign an extension in Sacramento. Now it appears Rondo’s opinion — or simply his bargaining position — has changed.
Thumbnail photo via Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports Images
