Gambling on Rajon Rondo May Just Be the Dice Roll Los Angeles Lakers Need

Opinions on whether Rajon Rondo will or won’t—should or shouldn’t—join the Los Angeles Lakers are flying fast and furious these days.

The subject of the 29-year-old point guard isn’t new to the team or its fans—the Lakers tried to trade for the Boston Celtics star in December, but lost out to the Dallas Mavericks.

But as the Mavericks ultimately discovered, a Rondo in their midst turned out to be disastrous, with a parting of the ways reportedly occurring in the midst of the playoffs' first round.

And with that calamity still fresh in the public conscious, the attention turns from Texas to a team coming off its worst season in franchise history, with splintered opinions about Rondo’s future candidacy extending inside the beltway of the Lakers’ organization itself.

As Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding writes, there is still some internal support for signing the free agent during the offseason, but the picture is becoming murkier:

"

But what should be made clear, according to team sources, is that (Jim) Buss is not the believer he was earlier in the season when it comes to Rondo, and (Mitch) Kupchak is toting enough healthy skepticism that he sees Rondo as value only at a certain low price.

Thus no one should expect the Lakers to recycle those old "STAY" billboards for Dwight Howard, flipping them over to be barefaced welcome mats for Rondo this offseason, no matter how much he wants to come.

"

Indeed, a welcome of any sort is bound to be guarded at best. This is after all, a team whose recent failures caused it to look toward the future and a rebuild predicated on youth and vitality—not aging stars in decline.

Why Rondo?

The most prominent advocacy is the one voiced by a ghost from championships past—Kobe Bryant. The five-time NBA champion wasn’t willing to stop recruiting Rondo after the Dallas acquisition, and it’s doubtful he’ll stop now.

“No way,” the Mamba told the Boston Herald in January. “I’m not done.  I'm not stopping until he signs an extension."

There has been a history of courtship, including a much talked-about breakfast meeting between the veteran warriors in early December.

“We just talked about the game, we talked about the league,” Bryant said, per Baxter Holmes of ESPN. “We talked about good old memories of playing in the series against each other, stuff like that."

But the later “not done” comment showed it was more than just two guys reminiscing. And with an extension in Dallas no longer a concern and Bryant heading toward his 20th and perhaps final season in the league, it makes perfect sense he would want Rondo along for the ride.

Another reason to roll the dice is that for all the potential shown by Jordan Clarkson this season, the second-round rookie has a score-first mentality and the exuberance of a young colt.

Rondo, meanwhile, has little interest in shooting the ball. One of the game’s most gifted set-up men would be more than happy firing the rock straight to Bryant’s sweet spots.

And who can argue with the logic of a laser-guided delivery system being commissioned for the benefit of the NBA’s third-highest all-time scorer?

There’s also the money factor. It wasn’t long ago Rondo was viewed as a max-contract-type player. But that ship has sailed, and the Lakers might well be able to obtain the guard for a bargain rate and a relatively short term.

That would still leave Los Angeles with some spending flexibility this summer and a whole lot more in the future, with a rapidly rising salary cap.

The Lakers will need an additional point guard next season, and it would be a good idea to balance Clarkson’s learning curve with someone possessing solid playoff experience.

So why not Rent-a-Rondo?

2011-12	53 games	17.5 PER	11.7 AST (led NBA)	11.9 PTS
2012-13	38 games	18.1 PER	11.1 AST (led NBA)	13.7 PTS
2013-14	30 games	15.3 PER	9.8 AST	11.7 PTS
2014-15 (BOS/DAL)	60 games	13.5 PER	7.9 AST	8.9 PTS

The Potential Rondo Downside

The argument against acquiring the mercurial former NBA champion and four-time All-Star is as simple as the reasons for.

Why invest even a dime when a profit is so unlikely?

The idea of loading up on veteran role players made sense back in the Phil Jackson days, when Kobe was still in his prime and partnered with other peak stars like Shaquille O’Neal or Pau Gasol.

But that era has passed. It is highly unlikely the present-day Bryant, who has suffered three season-ending injuries in a row, and Rondo, whose athleticism is so diminished in the wake of his 2013 ACL injury, can lead a pack of young yahoos down the road for a long-shot championship run.

And current Lakers coach Byron Scott is not the kind of sorcerer that can tie all those pieces together.

Instead, the front office has to stay the course—continuing to develop and build for the future. And when they do loosen the purse strings this summer, it should be for hoopsters who are multidimensional, coachable and either at or nearing their prime.

The mercurial Rondo is none of those—he is prickly, fading and can’t score the ball. And, his polarizing presence is not likely to benefit an impressionable young prospect like Clarkson.

When all the pros and cons are laid out like a puzzle, are there no pieces that fit together?

There is really only one scenario in which acquiring the pass-first and shoot-never guard makes some sense.

And that would be if the Lakers drafted, signed and traded for a killer combination of players with just one need remaining—a specialty piece who could complement a swan song superstar in a narrowly defined way. 

Threading the needle with Rajon Rondo seems like a risky proposition.

But the allure of the two-time assists leader dishing to Bryant may ultimately lead to a contract.