Kiss Rajon Rondo Goodbye, Celtics Fans!

I don’t like to engage in click-bait techniques, everyone, so let me come right out and say it: I believe the Boston Celtics’ double overtime game against the Washington Wizards last night sealed Rajon Rondo’s fate.

Enjoy watching him while you can – he will not be wearing a Boston Celtics jersey come 2015-2016.

I have no insider information at my disposal, outlining the Celtics’ plans to trade Rondo. Likewise, I have no angry soundbite from Rondo, expressing his disgust over what went down in our nation’s capital last night.

Instead, I have a pretty good understanding of an athlete’s mentality – an elite athlete, if we believe the following words were spoken truly by Rondo:

"The top three NBA players in the league right now . . . I would have to say Rajon Rondo, LeBron James and Kevin Durant."

Professional athletes don’t like to feel disrespected. Elite athletes? Even more so. And whether or not you and I agree over Rondo being a truly elite player in the NBA, the bottom line is that he believes so, and it’s his opinion that matters here, not yours or mine.

Rondo only logged 20:53 minutes of playing time last night, the second-lowest total out of any of Boston’s starting five. Meanwhile, bench players such as Kelly Olynyk (41:26), Evan Turner (39:10), and most notably rookie Marcus Smart (34:59) saw significantly more playing time, including (unless I’m mistaken) all of the fourth quarter and both overtimes.

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Fact: Boston’s starters allowed the Wizards to build a 23-point third quarter lead.

Fact: Rondo had an atrocious game going: zero points, four assists, two rebounds, three turnovers.

Fact: No coach on planet Earth would keep LeBron James or Kevin Durant on the bench for the entire fourth quarter and two consecutive overtimes.

I’m not going to spend today arguing whether head coach Brad Stevens was right, or wrong, to ride his bench for so long. The vote of confidence he showed to Olynyk and Smart will go a long way toward helping those guys feel confident about their ability to compete night in and night out. Still, the bench is your bench for a reason. If you would not start them, you probably should at least try to work your starters back in at some point once the game gets close.

But that debate? Save it for Twitter. My concern is what sitting for so long is going to do to Rajon Rondo’s future with the Boston Celtics. And the longer you think about it, the more you realize there is now only one course of action: Rajon Rondo plays elsewhere next season.

If the Celtics don’t have enough trust in Rondo to shake off a funk and put him back in after the bench rallied to make the game close, they may as well trade him this season. Clearly, he is not viewed as an impact player, a game-changer, an elite NBA superstar. Even on their worst nights, james, Durant, Kobe Bryant, etc – they’re in the game in crunch time. These guys are superstars for a reason: they deliver. KD could go 0-for-20, but when the game is on the line, his teammates are going to believe he will deliver.

Same thing for King James.

Same thing for Kobe.

Clearly, no one in the Celtics organization feels that way about Rondo.

And if that is the case, Danny Ainge better wait for Rondo to have a few bounce-back games, and then trade him while he can. Because you know Rajon Rondo is not going to re-sign with a team that doesn’t trust him to play during crunch time.

For better or for worse, an athlete tends to be hyper-sensitive when it comes to respect. Rondo can show us a brave face, but he cannot possibly feel anything but disrespected after last night’s game.

So prepare your farewells, Celtics Nation. I’m predicting it: by this time next year, the Boston Celtics will have a new different starting point guard.

Sad, but true.

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