The Los Angeles Lakers have agreed to trade former Boston Celtics guard and two-time NBA Champion Rajon Rondo to the Cleveland Cavaliers for guard/forward Denzel Valentine, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Cavaliers just lost guard Ricky Rubio for the year to an ACL injury and Rondo will likely slot into his role as a pass-first point guard. Valentine, who is on a partially guaranteed deal, is expected to be waived by the Lakers to open up a roster spot.
Rondo spent nine years with the Celtics, winning a championship in 2007-08 alongside Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. He averaged 11 points, 8.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game in his time in Boston. He led the league in assists twice (2011-12, 2012-13) while in the organization.
He was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in a deal that sent Jae Crowder to Boston in 2014. This was the second major move of the Danny Ainge rebuild in Boston, after the harrowed swap with the Brooklyn Nets that eventually landed them Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
Rondo is eager for the chance to play a bigger role with an ascending Cavaliers team in the absence of Ricky Rubio, sources said. He's been positive on the deal since it was presented to him as an option yesterday. https://t.co/7yg8F3PgED
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 31, 2021
This season he has averaged 3.1 points, 3.7 assists and 2.7 rebounds in 16.1 minutes per game off the bench for the Lakers.
This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!
[mm-video type=video id=01fqpc5h78fds5esm01y playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fqpc5h78fds5esm01y/01fqpc5h78fds5esm01y-e16df848927d86dc8debaeb7a6db9474.jpg]