Rajon Rondo? Butt heads with his head coach?
Nah.
At least, not this head coach.
Rondo recently got cute with the media, admitting that things between he and the Sacramento Kings head coach weren’t all dandelions and daisies. The video of his initial comments can be seen below:
“It’s not been going too well,” Rondo said. “We got into a couple arguments the last couple of days. Hopefully, we continue to talk, and it will get better.”
Psych!
Karl and Rondo are actually totally OK, a mild revelation that started to trickle out soon after the above video went viral.
Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee put it bluntly:
Calm down folks. There's no #beef between Rajon Rondo and George Karl. Rondo has been using that joke since July. No issues
— Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) October 14, 2015
Soon after, Rondo commented on the “situation,” per James Ham of CSNBayArea.com:
“Anyone that knows me, I have a dry sense of humor, I can keep a straight face when I’m joking. Nothing between George and I.”
-Rajon Rondo
— James Ham (@James_Ham) October 14, 2015
For good measure, Karl also joined in on the party:
“You’re being tricked. Rondo is hilarious. My relationship with Rondo is so good, if it gets better, I’d get scared.” -George Karl
— James Ham (@James_Ham) October 14, 2015
“Rondo and I are going to have a lot of fights, we’re going to have a lot of discussions, but it’s never been a problem.” -Karl on Rondo
— James Ham (@James_Ham) October 14, 2015
On a scale of “Fibbing about his beef with DeMarcus Cousins” to “Wholly and completely true” Karl’s comments hold weight. He doesn’t try denying that Rondo is difficult to coach, or that the two will have disagreements and arguments over the course of the season. He’s just saying it hasn’t happened yet. And you know what, it’s worth believing him.
The Kings are not the posters for honesty, but, when you think about it, there really isn’t anything here. Rondo has butted heads with coaches in the past (Doc Rivers and Rick Carlisle), but he hasn’t even been in Sacramento for four months, and his reputation has fallen by the wayside in the wake of injuries, subpar performances and his stubborn intellect. He has no incentive to rock the boat right now, not when the burden of proof is on him.
Neither Karl nor Rondo would be so casual about this if it were true, either. We saw how Karl handled the Cousins thing. This, per Jones, is clearly different:
Karl jokingly to Rondo leaving the court: "let's go have an argument."
— Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) October 14, 2015
So pump those fists, Kings fans. The relationship between Rondo and Karl is, for now, one less thing you need to worry about.
