Rajon Pierre Rondo (, born February 22, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A point guard, Rondo played two years of college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats before being drafted 21st overall by the Phoenix Suns in the 2006 NBA draft and subsequently traded to the Celtics in a draft-day trade. Rondo is a two-time NBA champion, four-time NBA All-Star, has earned four NBA All-Defensive Team honors including two First Team honors, and was named to the All-NBA Third Team in 2012.
During his time in Boston, Rondo helped the Celtics advance to the NBA Finals in 2008 and 2010, winning a championship in 2008 as the team's starting point guard. Rondo is known to be a versatile facilitator in the NBA, leading the league in assists three times and in steals once; he also ranks fourth in Celtics history in assists and third in steals. Rondo has sometimes been described as a "stat-sheet stuffer", ranking 13th in NBA history for triple-doubles with 32 in the regular season, and fifth in NBA history for triple-doubles with 10 in the playoffs.
After seasons with the Celtics, Rondo was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in December 2014. Following a tumultuous five-month stint he turned into a journeyman, joining the Sacramento Kings, Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Pelicans, Los Angeles Lakers (two stints), Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers over the next years. With the Lakers, he won a second championship in 2020.
Early life
Rondo was born on February 22, 1986, in Louisville, Kentucky. He has three siblings. He had little contact with his father, who left his family when he was seven years old. To support the family, his mother worked the third shift at Philip Morris USA, a tobacco company. Rondo was first interested in football, before his mother steered him towards basketball because she felt that the sport would be less punishing on his skinny frame.
After Rondo became serious about basketball, he attended Louisville's Eastern High School for three years. During his junior year at Eastern High School, he averaged 27.9 points, 10.0 rebounds and 7.5 assists which earned him a spot on the All-State honors and was named the 7th Region Player of the Year. He transferred to Virginia's Oak Hill Academy for his senior year where he averaged 21.0 points per game (ppg), 3.0 rebounds per game (rpg) and 12.0 assists per game (apg) and finished the 2003–04 season with a 38–0 record. In his senior year at Oak Hill Academy, Rondo broke Jeff McInnis's single-season school record of 303 assists, while averaging a double-double. There, he included two efforts of 27 assists and a single-game school record of 31, merely four away from the all-time national record. He also had a 55-point game in high-school, second highest all-time in Oak Hill Academy, surpassed only by Calvin Duncan with 61. Rondo was named to the McDonald's All-American Team in 2004 and scored a total of 14 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds in the all-star game. He also participated in the 2004 Jordan Brand Capital Classic game, logging 12 points, 5 assists and 4 steals. Rondo was also named a second-team Parade All-American. He ended his career as Oak Hill Academy's all-time assists leader in a single season with 494 assists, surpassing McInnis.
College career
Rondo committed to Kentucky over hometown Louisville. Rondo, along with All-Americans Joe Crawford and Randolph Morris, gave coach Tubby Smith and Kentucky the top-rated recruiting class for 2004 according to Rivals.com. Rondo led Kentucky to several wins including victories against Louisville, South Carolina and Central Florida, but Kentucky failed to advance to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament in either Rondo's freshman or sophomore seasons. He was named to the SEC All-Freshmen Team. He set a Kentucky record for most steals in single-season, with a total of 87 steals in his freshman year and made at least one steal in every game. He finished his freshman year at Kentucky averaging 8.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.6 steals.