Rajon Rondo agrees to deal with Kings
The Sacramento Kings are hoping the Kentucky connection can help turn their embattled franchise around.
According to a person with knowledge of the situation, they came to terms with free agent point guard Rajon Rondo on a one-year, $9.5 million deal on Friday.
The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because the deal can't be signed until the free agency moratorium lifts on July 9.
Rondo now becomes the third key member of the Kings with a University of Kentucky background, joining centerpiece DeMarcus Cousins and new big man Willie Cauley-Stein (taken sixth overall out of Kentucky in the June draft). Kings coach George Karl is at the center of it all, with very few folks around the NBA convinced he'll be able to make this all work.
It was less than two weeks ago that reports first surfaced that Cousins wanted out of Sacramento and that the Los Angeles Lakers were pushing hard to bring him to town. The root of his discontent is believed to be two-fold, from the near-nonstop dysfunction that has been on display in his five seasons in Sacramento to the difficult dynamic that now exists between he and Karl.
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While Karl spoke highly of Cousins in their first few months working together, his public comment immediately following the regular season that anyone was tradable is known to have bothered his big man. It was one of the sparks that sent this Kings' saga into its latest spin, but now there's clearly a focus on pulling off the seemingly-impossible by putting an improved supporting cast around Cousins.
The 29-year-old Rondo, meanwhile, has everything to prove after a tumultuous 2014-15 season. When the four-time All-Star was traded from the Boston Celtics to the Dallas Mavericks last December, it was widely believed that it was the beginning of a long-term relationship. But Rondo struggled mightily to fit in both on the floor and off, clashed with coach Rick Carlisle and now finding himself attempting to redeem his reputation. If he can do that in Sacramento just in time for the NBA's salary cap to spike next summer because of the the $24 billion television deal with ESPN and Turner, then this calculated risk will have been well worth it.
While the Kings missed out on adding free agent shooting guard Wesley Matthews on Thursday (he signed in Dallas on a four-year, $57 million deal), they added former San Antonio Spurs shooting guard Marco Bellinelli on Friday (three years, $19 million). The Kings went to great lengths to create the necessary salary cap room to make these additions, trading Jason Thompson, Carl Landry, Nik Stauskas and a 2018 first-round pick to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.
The Kings, who have just one season left in their arena which was built in 1988 before moving to the new Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento, have won just 33.2% of their games since Cousins was drafted fifth overall out of Kentucky (131-263).