Celtics' Rajon Rondo Suspended 1 Game for Making Contact with an Official
After making contact with an official and failing to cooperate with a league investigation on the matter, the NBA has suspended Rajon Rondo for one game, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:
"The NBA has suspended Boston's Rajon Rondo one game for making contact with an official and failing to cooperate with league investigation.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) January 7, 2013"
The incident occurred on Saturday as the team was able to come back to defeat the Atlanta Hawks on the road. Rondo finished the game with a triple-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
For the season, Rondo averages 13.2 points and a league-leading 11.3 assists per game.
He will not be able to play in Boston's anticipated showdown against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden.
Even for one game, this would be a devastating loss for a team that is barely hanging on in the standings with a 16-17 record for the year.
Rondo did not receive a technical foul for the incident that occurred during the third quarter against the Hawks, but the league is clearly sending a message to a player who has had issues with contacting officials in the past.
The point guard also missed a game in the playoffs last season due to suspension after bumping a referee, also against Atlanta.
In the future, the NBA should hope that Rondo will have learned his lesson in regards to how to behave around officials and how to be cooperative with the league when it tries to conduct an investigation.
Avery Bradley and Leandro Barbosa will likely get additional minutes at the point guard spot in Rondo's absence. Bradley is averaging 5.3 points per game in three contests since returning from injury, while Barbosa is averaging 4.9 points in limited minutes this year.
