Lakers were unwilling to trade rookie Julius Randle for Rajon Rondo
Kobe Bryant and Rajon Rondo met for breakfast recently. Rondo is an unrestricted free agent next summer and was the center of sporadic trade rumors out of Boston. People talked.
That was of course before the Boston Celtics decided to trade their All-Star point guard to the Dallas Mavericks for Brandan Wright, Jae Crowder, Jameer Nelson, and a draft pick. The Los Angeles Lakers were definitely looking to make a deal for Rondo, but their 7th overall pick Julius Randle was not available to Boston, according to Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports:
The Lakers and Celtics had mutual interest for a Rajon Rondo deal, but the Lakers weren’t willing to give up injured rookie Julius Randle, a source said.
The Lakers did reportedly make their offer to the Celtics for Rondo, but Steve Nash and a couple of draft picks wasn’t going to cut it for Boston.
Randle is currently out with a broken leg which he suffered against Houston on opening night. If there truly was mutual interest at some point, you have to believe that Julius Randle was a preference for Boston. The Lakers don’t necessarily have any other shiny assets.
Giving up on Randle for Rondo would have been the premature move. Randle brings the franchise some young hope for the future and while giving that up for Rondo would have made the Lakers a little bit better of a basketball team, it simply wasn’t worth it.
