The Cleveland Cavaliers have turned to the trade market to help replace point guard Ricky Rubio, who suffered a torn ACL earlier this week that will end his season. On Friday, the Cavaliers agreed to acquire veteran point guard Rajon Rondo from the Los Angeles Lakers to fill their void at the position.
Now that Rondo has cleared the NBA's health and safety protocols, the deal can be completed -- with the addition of a third team -- and he gives the Cavaliers a veteran leader at the point. Previously, Cleveland had been down to just Darius Garland (also subject to protocols) and rookie Kevin Pangos at the position. Pangos, a EuroLeague veteran, had played 82 minutes all season before starting the team's last three games, two of them losses.
In his second tour of duty with the Lakers, whom he helped win the NBA championship in the bubble, Rondo had seen sporadic action as a backup point guard.
Can Rondo still help the Cavaliers at age 35? (He'll turn 36 in February.) And how might the Lakers use the extra roster spot created in this trade? Let's take a look.
The deal
Cavaliers get: Rajon Rondo, draft rights
Lakers get: Draft rights to Louis Labeyrie
New York Knicks get: Denzel Valentine, $1.1 million cash, draft rights to Brad Newlin and Wang Zhelin
Cleveland Cavaliers: C
It's telling that the Lakers moved on from Rondo so quickly, making them the second team to cut bait on him midseason in as many years. (The Atlanta Hawks, who signed Rondo in 2020 free agency, dealt him at last season's trade deadline.)
In between, Rondo did give the Clippers a lift over the final 1 1/2 months of the 2020-21 regular season. He made 58% of his 2-point attempts and 43% of his 3s for the Clippers, solidifying their point guard spot behind starter Reggie Jackson.
Alas, that kind of shooting didn't carry over to the playoffs, when Rondo found himself out of the rotation for much of the Clippers' pair of comebacks. He played just 17 minutes over their last two wins over the Dallas Mavericks in the first round and 15 total after Game 1 against the Utah Jazz. Again, Rondo was benched during the conference finals, not seeing any action over the Clippers' last three games.
Despite giving up a second-round pick to get Rondo from the Hawks at the deadline, the Clippers moved him this summer as part of a deal to add Eric Bledsoe. Bought out by the Memphis Grizzlies, Rondo landed back with the Lakers as part of their 2020 title reunion.
This time around, Rondo struggled with his shooting, making just 37% of his 2s and 27% of his 3s. He saw action in just one game between Nov. 21 and Dec. 15 before being pressed back into service when the Lakers lost several players to the protocols midway through the month -- Rondo eventually joining them.
Rondo's stint with the Clippers was his only strong regular-season play since 2017-18 with the New Orleans Pelicans, when he turned 32 at midseason. At this point in Rondo's career, the Cavaliers can't count on him to threaten defenses as a scorer the way Rubio did, which allowed Rubio to play alongside Darius Garland and take advantage of his playmaking skills. Rondo's defensive intensity has also waxed and waned in the back half of his career, meaning he'll likely be a downgrade from Rubio at that end as well.
I've written Rondo off in terms of regular-season contributions prematurely before, so it's certainly possible his unmatched basketball IQ and tendency to build strong relationships with young players will help Cleveland. Still, perhaps the best part of this deal for the Cavaliers is that adding Rondo won't prevent them from making a move for a more reliable backup to Garland by the trade deadline.
Although Cleveland didn't need to match salary for Rondo because of his minimum salary, a roster spot was needed. Sending back Valentine means the Cavaliers are in the same spot as they were before with regard to the luxury tax, about $3 million below the line. That flexibility could be important in a future deal.
Los Angeles Lakers: A-
The value for the Lakers here is clearing a roster spot without having to eat Rondo's salary, an important consideration for a team deep in the luxury tax. Sending Valentine to New York in this deal allows the Lakers to fill their open roster spot while saving $5.7 million in taxes -- about double what they would have saved by simply waiving Valentine before his contract guarantees for the remainder of the season on Jan. 7 and easily worth the $1.1 million in cash they paid the Knicks, per my ESPN colleague Adrian Wojnarowski.
Having started three games for the Lakers on a 10-day hardship contract, Stanley Johnson seems certain to get a deal for the remainder of the season using the open roster spot. I'd be wary of reading too much into Johnson's performance in five games in Los Angeles, given his NBA track record, but he does offer a combination of size and athleticism they don't have on their current roster.
The Lakers are giving up the chance of a "Playoff Rondo" transformation like we saw in the 2020 bubble, but at seventh in the Western Conference with the league's second-easiest schedule to date, they need to worry about just getting to the playoffs in the first place. Johnson is a better bet to help them do that.
New York Knicks: B
This is mostly a financial move for the Knicks, who will have to create a roster spot to add Valentine. Logically, they'll waive Wayne Selden, whose contract doesn't guarantee until Jan. 7. Selden, currently in health and safety protocols himself, has played 19 minutes this season after making the New York roster in training camp.
Assuming the Knicks were planning to waive Selden anyway, the $1.1 million is free money that either covers Valentine's salary for the rest of the season or can be pocketed if they waive both players and maintain flexibility with an open roster spot.