Rajon Rondo will hit unrestricted free agency this summer, at which point he’ll be paid handsomely, signing a contract that could be worth upwards of $100 million.
And he doesn’t care.
Not right now at least.
Rumors pertaining to Rondo’s free agency abound. Though the Dallas Mavericks can offer him more money than any other team, some maintain he’s already angling toward an exit. Rondo himself, however, says otherwise.
From ESPN Dallas’ Tim MacMahon:
“I don’t really want to even get into that,” said Rondo, who has never experienced free agency, signing a contract extension with the Celtics before he hit the open market. “I just want to win playoff games right now. That will come. Free agency isn’t until July 1. Honestly, I haven’t lost any sleep this year about it. I don’t think about free agency at all. I just want to play better and win games here as a Maverick.”
Rondo is happy to be healthy, having been humbled by the extended time he missed when he suffered his serious knee injury. He just wants to stay healthy, contribute to making a playoff run and let the chips fall where they may.
“Exactly,” Rondo said. “There’s only so much I can control. What’s for me is what’s for me. That’s how I look at it. I can control a little bit of it, but for the most part, what’s going to happen is what’s going to happen.”
Yours truly falls on the side of the fence that has the Mavericks keeping only one of Rondo and Monta Ellis. Their play styles overlap, and the Mavericks’ offense has suffered since acquiring the former. With both entering free agency and speeding toward massive paydays, it seems like one will be cut loose.
Still, even I have to admit that the playoffs will have a significant impact on what the Mavericks, Rondo and Ellis all decide to do. A deep postseason push can change everything. All along, the Mavericks themselves have been talking about the importance of time and patience and how fitting in is a process that takes months—a grace period Rondo and crew will not be afforded until the offseason.
But while that deep playoff performance could serve as proof that the Rondo experiment is worth salvaging, this entire thing will still come down to price. Rondo, by all appearances, believes he is a max-contract player. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban implied the team views him as such at his introductory presser in December. But that was then, this is now. And right now, the Mavericks look the part of a title pretender.
If they need to line Rondo’s pockets with a five-year deal approaching nine figures over its life, they could balk. The point guard position is incredibly deep and Rondo has failed to adequately stand out over the last few years, be it because of injuries or suboptimal play.
Expect his postseason display, then, to weigh heavily on his price tag. And then expect the Mavericks’ interest in bringing him back to be firmly tethered to that price tag.
