Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo envy each other, hate each other, and almost got traded for each other

- In October 2018, the Lakers and the Rockets had a small confrontation. It calmed down and then suddenly it turned back on and became something much bigger. That's because these two guys got involved, Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo. His participation in this fight was a long time coming. (mysterious music) Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo are great examples of how much the team that drafts you affects the course of your career. In 2005, Paul was drafted fourth overall out of Wake Forest by a terrible New Orleans Hornets team. This would be the same year that the Hornets began going hungry in Oklahoma while their hometown recovered from Hurricane Katrina.

The team improved around its rookie of the year point guard, but not enough to make the playoffs. So in the summer of 2006, the Hornets made moves, signing sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic and then trading for big man Tyson Chandler. But injuries hampered them and they still failed to make the postseason. The 2007-2008 season would be the Hornets' breakthrough. They returned to New Orleans. Paul and power forward David West became All-Stars for the first time. Byron Scott won the Coach of the Year award. New Orleans won a franchise-record 56 games, made the playoffs and destroyed Dirk Nowitzki's Mavericks in the first round.

In the next round, the Hornets came out strong against the defending champion Spurs, but after leading the series 2-0 and 3-2, they lost the round in a heartbreaking game seven loss. The Spurs advanced to the conference finals where they fell to the Lakers, who r

each

ed the NBA Finals and lost to a Boston Celtics team with a kid named Rajon Rondo at point guard. Rondo, like Paul, was a young rising star at his position. Unlike Paul, Rondo had entered the league as a relatively unhyped prospect. A mediocre Celtics team acquired him on draft night in 2006 after he was taken 21st overall out of Kentucky.

While Rondo worked his way into the starting lineup in his rookie season, Celtics star Paul Pierce missed several games due to injury. Boston held up pretty poorly, winning just 24 games, but while Chris Paul's Hornets had made some good moves, Rondo's Celtics pulled off a makeover of historic magnitude. They

traded

their lottery pick for Ray Allen, made an even bigger trade for Kevin Garnett a few days later, then pulled off the biggest trade in NBA history, finishing with 66 wins just a year after winning 24. And then, they won it all. - Everything is possible! - Rondo went from being a promising rookie on a trash team to starting point guard on a champion.

That's pretty wild. So now we're in the summer of 2008, which is an important time because, according to more recent accounts, that's when the fight started. After that 2018 Rockets-Lakers fight, some reporters recalled the 2008 Olympics, where Paul led the United States to a gold medal while Rondo reportedly failed tryouts. Reports from the time say that Rondo was invited to the select team, the youngest players who play against the US team before the competition. Rondo and fellow Celtics youngster Kendrick Perkins understandably declined the invitation after playing NBA games well into June. And Rondo would never have been part of an Olympic roster that ended with Paul, Jason Kidd and Deron Williams, but he may have resented being left off the 35-plus finalist list, which fell days before the Celtics won their championship. . and included guards such as Luke Ridnour and Kirk Hinrich.

I don't know why Rondo would hold that against Paul in particular. He may have noticed that Paul got a big contract extension in July, but so did Deron Williams. The guys recruited in 2005 had to sign new agreements. Nothing special there. And up to that point there had been no visible problems in the meetings either. Rondo made his NBA debut in an uneventful loss against Paul and the Hornets. He earned his first win against Paul in March of that championship season, and Paul went out of his way to praise his slightly younger opponent. So, did beef exist in 2008?

It's possible, but it could be one of those things where NBA experts know more than we do. Either way, Rondo was eager to prove the critics wrong and claimed to have done so by winning a ring in 2008. None of those

other

young point guards had done the same, and while Boston once again posted 60 wins, the Hornets regressed in 2009. Paul was healthy and effective. He missed only four games due to a groin strain, returning just in time to lose again to the Celtics, but the injuries ensured that New Orleans would not come close to the previous season's playoff run.

Paul was considered by most to be the best point guard in the NBA, but this fourth season began a long chapter of playoff disappointment in his career. And guess who predicted all that disappointment right in Paul's face? (mysterious music) Rondo, obviously. The Hornets and Celtics met in November 2009 and things went pretty normally. Paul played very well, despite Rondo's physical defense, but Boston was victorious once again. The pair also learned a bit about the technical aspects of wrestling, and any tension generated during the game was broken afterwards. The typical round of postgame handshakes got heated when Rondo confronted Paul on the court.

The two had to be separated and then we found out why. Rondo trash-talked Paul by saying, and this is a direct quote, "I have a ring and you're never going to win one," which I'm talking to you about over nine years later and that statement is still true. to the word. Paul didn't even make it to a conference final until his 13th season, but Paul didn't like that comment anyway and sulked for a while. Some reports said he argued with Boston assistant Tom Thibodeau and attempted to enter the Celtics locker room, although Paul later denied all of that.

Inside that locker room, Celtics public relations demanded that Rondo never be asked about Paul. This exchange epitomized the theme of this dispute. Rondo had a ring and was days away from accepting a big extension of his own, but he still wasn't considered on Paul's level and some simply judged his individual success as a product of the incredible team that surrounded him since '07. Paul himself wouldn't praise Rondo without that slight qualifier, and people around the league, both the media and Rondo's own coach, dismissed the comparison. But Paul's individual superiority continued to be rubbed. While the Celtics visited New Orleans later that season, Paul was out with a knee injury, but the Hornets brought him out before the game to announce that he had been selected again for Team USA.

Paul did not end up joining the roster. of the 2010 FIBA ​​Championship, but even without Paul in front of him, Rondo couldn't pull it off. He was invited to training camp in Athens, but saw limited playing time in exhibitions, guessed where things were headed, and left the team before they could cut him. And that was it for Rondo's career on Team USA. The 2012 Olympics happened right in the middle of his prime, but he no longer had any interest in trying to make the cut again among the point guards. greater prestige. Still, something more important happened during Rondo's prime.

In 2011, Rondo became an All-Star for the first time, but his Celtics had stagnated. After winning that championship in Rondo's second season, they had r

each

ed the Finals only once, falling in seven to the vengeful Lakers. Boston wanted an

other

title before the window closed for its old big three, and with LeBron James leading an even stronger big three in Miami, it was clear the existing roster couldn't do it. On top of that, there were some internal conflicts. Rondo and his defensive partner, Ray Allen, did not get along, and Rondo sometimes became angry at the demands of Celtics coach Doc Rivers.

Then, in November 2011, with the NBA lockout about to end, Celtics general manager Danny Ainge got on the phone to discuss trading Rondo for Chris Paul. Various versions of the exchange were discussed and the rumors reached Woj tweet status. It once again became common to compare the two players, and there were even people like Shaq, who had briefly been a Celtic before retiring, arguing that Rondo was the better point guard, citing his evidence of the greater success his team had achieved. . In the end, the trade failed. At the time, Paul was said to be unwilling to commit to Boston long-term, but according to Ray Allen's 2018 autobiography, Coach Rivers vetoed the trade because he "couldn't do that" with his old friend, the Boston Red Sox coach.

Hornets. , Monty Williams. I think the implication here is that Rondo's personality might be difficult for a coach to handle, which seems to be the case, but Ray Allen might be a slightly biased source here. After a big mess, Paul was

traded

to the Clippers. The first time Rondo visited CP3 at his new home, the two exchanged a polite handshake without any sign of annoyance. And the dispute calmed down a bit for a while. Injuries ended Rondo's time as an All-Star, as did the gradual dismantling of the once-champion Celtics. A notable part of that dismantling came in the summer of 2013, when Doc Rivers left Boston and accepted a job coaching Chris Paul and the Clippers.

Rivers, who had been a point guard in his playing days, was as tough on Paul as he had been on the young Rondo, drawing comparisons again. Rivers was also the Clippers' senior vice president of basketball operations for a time and brought in several former Celtics to complement his core of Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, which will be relevant down the road. In December 2014, Boston completed its demolition of the 2008 championship team by trading Rondo to the Dallas Mavericks. That began a chapter in Rondo's career that was spent jumping from team to team, fighting coaches along the way.

In 2017, days after Paul was traded to the Rockets, Rondo signed with Paul's old team in New Orleans, now called the Pelicans. This season he brought the meat back into focus a bit. First, Rondo was joining forces with his good friend, DeMarcus Cousins, who has his own problem with Paul. Second, Rondo broke Paul's single-game franchise assist record, which is pretty cool, and third, they actually improved a little in a game Rondo didn't even play in. Rondo was resting when the Rockets visited New Orleans on March 17, 2018, but he managed to receive a technical from the bench after getting into a verbal argument with Paul.

So, that was an indication that the dispute still existed, but as of October 20 of that year, we didn't need any further indication. Rondo and Paul had been fighting all night, and when things got heated, they gravitated toward each other, then argued, and Rondo maybe spit on Paul a little. Then Paul punched Rondo in the face and then they hit each other a little and got suspended. Much attention was devoted to Zaprudering the footage to determine whether or not Rondo spit and whether it was on purpose. - It clearly looked like Rondo spit in his face. - And elsewhere, people were settling an alleged confrontation between a member of the Rondo family and Jada Paul, Chris's wife.

But for our purposes, the most interesting fallout came from something Rondo said after the fight. He quotes: "Everyone wants to believe that Chris Paul" is a good guy, they don't know that he is a horrible teammate. "They don't know how he treats people." To be clear before we delve deeper here, Rondo has a reputation for being abrasive and, at times, downright abusive. But I don't know where he gets the idea that Paul is considered an angel. Paul's own fight with Doc Rivers was widely reported, and he also has well-known problems and unpleasant incidents in his past.

In any case, Rondo's comment about Paul immediately sparked analysis from people who know both players, which since Doc was managing the Clippers for a while, is a lot of people. Jeff Green and Pierce simply said the fight was a long time coming. - The confrontation, I saw it coming, I knew it was a matter-- - Why? - I knew it was a matter of time. -And I'm surprised that this is his first fight. - Others even expressed their opinion. Big Baby Davis said that he had played with both of them and that, in fact, Paul was a bad teammate.

Ryan Hollins said that Paul, his former Clippers teammate, had something going on and went on to say that Rondo was one of his favorite teammates, which is kind of funny because he only played 15 games in Boston. (eerie music) Like Hollins definitely did the same Getty Images search that I did and that photo is the only evidence that those two were ever teammates. Rockets general managerDaryl Morey doesn't really count here because he left the Celtics front office right before they drafted Rondo, but he stepped in to suggest that Rondo calling Paul a bad teammate was the pot that said the kettle was black.

Or he was just tweeting some nice artwork for fun, that's also possible. Doc Rivers, who might be the authority on the matter, didn't issue a ruling on who is the worst teammate, but he did reflect on the decade of confrontation and wonder aloud how it all started. Is it really fair that Rondo coveted Paul's status as the best point guard? I don't know, doctor. It certainly adds up. Rondo was excellent at his peak, but never at Paul's level, at least not according to anyone except Shaq. But it took Rondo just two years to get the ring that Paul chased for more than a decade.

Individual praise for one and team glory for the other could generate enough mutual

envy

to fuel a dispute. Of course, fuel needs ignition, so is there an incident somewhere in the past that we don't know about? Or is it just that these two guys are prone to acting like idiots? Paul Rondo's flesh is mysterious, but everyone agrees that he is old, real and alive. (slow piano music)