LA Lakers Rumors: Was Kobe And Rondo’s Breakfast In Boston Aimed At Bringing Rondo To LA?
Could Kobe Bryant, desperate to turn around one of his final seasons in the NBA, be turning to the Lakers’ longtime rivals for help? That’s the rumor making the rounds after Kobe and Celtic point guard Rajon Rondo were spotted palling around at breakfast in Boston ahead of Friday’s Lakers-Celtics match. But Laker fans might want to hold off a bit before they start planning a welcoming parade.
Even though the Lakers and Celtics are storied rivals – one of the most historic rivalries in all of sports – the teams were reportedly talking earlier this year about a trade that would send the tough, smart Celtics guard to Los Angeles. League sources have acknowledged that the teams had a “brief discussion” on the possibility of the Lakers landing Rondo earlier this year, but those talks fizzled. ESPN reports that the Celtics would like at least one first-round pick from the Lakers, and the Lake Show is reluctant to give up any such pick.
Still, the Lakers are definitely interested in landing Rondo, who helped the Celtics stomp Los Angeles in the 2008 NBA Finals. The chief cheerleader for bringing Rondo to Los Angeles is none other than Kobe Bryant, who has expressed nothing but admiration for the Celtic point guard.
“You don’t want Rondo? Send him my way,” Kobe told ESPNBoston last year. “I love everything about him. Everything. I love his attitude, I love his chippiness, his edge, his intellect, his know-it-allness. All of it. That’s what makes championship players. What guard have you seen at his size that will get you 18 assists, 17 boards and 20 points all in one game? That’s unheard of. I love that kid. I always make a point of talking to him during All-Star [Weekend]. He’s one of my favorites.”
Another shot of Kobe & Rondo grabbing breakfast in Boston: pic.twitter.com/TK6qBEB5qx
— Baxter Holmes (@BaxterHolmes) December 4, 2014
With a recommendation that glowing from a Laker great, it’s no surprise that the rumor mill started churning in earnest when word broke that Kobe and Rondo had been spotted getting breakfast together in Boston on Thursday. ESPN‘s Baxter Holmes snapped a few shots of Kobe and Rondo chatting and eating, but he says that Kobe squashed any notion that he was recruiting Rondo.
“No,” Kobe replied, when asked if he was making a case over breakfast for Rondo to come to the Lakers, “we get along extremely well. We see the game in a similar fashion in terms of our aggressiveness [and] mindset.” Kobe also put to bed any notions that he has visions of Rondo in purple and gold dancing through his head.
Kobe also joked that it was a “mutual intervention” between he & Rondo, given the state of the Lakers/Celtics franchises.
— Baxter Holmes (@BaxterHolmes) December 5, 2014
What did Kobe think of his breakfast with Rondo? Kobe says, smiling: “It was delicious.”
— Baxter Holmes (@BaxterHolmes) December 5, 2014
“No,” the Laker guard added sarcastically, “I haven’t thought about having any future teammates before.”
That will definitely dampen some Laker fans’ hopes of a quick turnaround for the season, but there’s always next year. In fact, Rondo will be a free agent at the end of this season, and the Lakers are rumored to be working on putting together a package to steal him away from the Celtics.
The Lakers might have a tough time doing so, though. Rondo has already said that he wants to stay in Boston, and the Celtics are apparently still enamored of their point guard, even as they endure a pretty rough rebuilding stretch.
So it looks like the only way Los Angeles fans will see Rondo and Kobe on the floor together will be the same way it’s been for years, with Rondo in Celtic green and Kobe in Laker gold. At least, that will be the case Friday night, when the two struggling franchises take the floor against each other. In the future, though? Who knows?
