Rajon Rondo has an attention-grabbing legacy with the Boston Celtics.
Whereas he gained a championship with the crew as a key participant in 2008 and made all 4 of his All-Star appearances carrying a Boston uniform, he additionally gained a championship with the Celtics’ bitter rival, the Los Angeles Lakers, in 2020.
As if that did not make issues contentious sufficient, Rondo, who formally retired from the NBA in 2024, has gone on document saying that the 2020 Lakers title meant extra to him than the lone title he gained with Boston in 2008.
“It meant extra from a sentimental level,” Rondo mentioned throughout an appearance on “Run It Back” on Wednesday. “It is one thing I am going to bear in mind extra with my children. When you’ve got children you may perceive.
“After I was with the Celtics, I am considering that is about to my new regular,” Rondo continued. “I assumed we had a hell of time and a crew may run it back-to-back with, and in a way, I type of took if without any consideration after I was that younger, however I perceive now. It took 12 years later to get one and I appreciated it 10 occasions extra … It is completely different values, however clearly the Celtics one acquired me to the place I’m in my profession. It should at all times be the primary.”
Celtics legend Paul Pierce, who gained Finals MVP in 2008, was given a chance to Rondo’s remark throughout Thursday’s episode of “Converse” on FS1, and maybe to the shock of the Boston loyal, Pierce understood his former teammate’s sentiment.
“That is truthful,” Pierce mentioned. “That is what occurs once you win your second title. While you win your second title, as Rajon Rondo, it bolts you into one other class with the place you stand NBA historical past and, probably, he generally is a Corridor of Famer now.”
Pierce was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Corridor of Fame in 2021 as a first-ballot inductee.
“That is truthful, Doe,” Pierce mentioned. “I am completely satisfied for you, my boy.”
The Celtics broke their tie with the Lakers final season for many titles by a franchise in NBA historical past (18).
The Lakers and Celtics will renew their rivalry on Thursday after they go head-to-head for the primary time this season. Tip-off is at 10 p.m. ET.
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