Rajon Rondo traded to Mavericks for Brandan Wright, first-round pick

Rondo’s full quote is here:

Friday’s game against Boston marks Rondo’s return to the city where he had spent his previous eight NBA seasons, while the Mavericks reunite with Brandan Wright and Jae Crowder, who were the second- and third-longest tenured Mavericks after Dirk Nowitzki prior to the trade.

Rajon Rondo certainly had *some* influence on the Celtics deal that sent him to Dallas -- the Mavs wouldn’t want him if they didn’t believe he’d re-sign -- but yeah, he didn’t “decide” to go there:

It was, you know, a trade.

A 7’5 wingspan on a 6’11 man who can sky has most everything to do with Wright’s efficiency numbers.

For all the complicated factors that go into that stat, which tries to guess the degree to which a player contributes to a win on a per-minute basis, perhaps the biggest contributing factor is Wright’s accuracy. He leads the league by shooting 74.8 percent from the floor. At that pace, Wright could set an NBA record for shooting percentage over the course of a year, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain’s 72.7 percent from the 1972-73 season.

Though it was a long-time coming, the deal still likely grabs at Boston fans’ hearts. Rondo, after all, was the final piece to go of the Celtics’ championship-caliber teams that won it all in 2008.

Rondo went to Facebook to thank Boston’s fans for their eight-plus years of support.

The Mavericks’ bold trade to acquire Rajon Rondo wasn’t finalized in some conference room. No, Mark Cuban was backstage at this:

The Colbert Report finished a decade-long run in style, with a cameo-laden Randy Newman singalong followed by Stephen Colbert riding off on Santa’s sleigh with a vaping Abraham Lincoln. And, as you can see, Cuban was one of the many celebrities to join the group.

The victory left the Celtics a half game out of the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference despite a 9-14 record and put them at the crossroads of an existential quandary they have been pondering for the last year and a half: How good can they be with Rondo, and is there any way to get better quickly?

The cap space is yet another factor in the equation. With Rondo and his impending extension off the books, the Celtics have a little less than $50 million committed to next year’s roster. That number could shrink appreciably if Green is traded or if he opts out of the final year of his deal that pays him just over $9 million.

Rajon Rondo was finally traded, going to the Dallas Mavericks for Brandan Wright, Jae Crowder, Jameer Nelson and a first-round pick. This ends what had been years of rumors and educated guesses about Rondo’s future in Boston, rumors that date back to his first year with the team.

“They’ve been a way of life since I’ve been here,” Rondo said less than 24 hours before he was finally dealt. “It’s just part of it.”

The Dallas Mavericks have acquired Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo in exchange for Brandan Wright, Jae Crowder, Jameer Nelson, a 2015 first-round draft pick and a future second-round pick, according to Yahoo! Sports Adrian Wojnarowski and ESPN’s Marc Stein.

Dallas fended off the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings, New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers, all of whom were mentioned in rumors involving the Celtics point guard this year. The Rockets were reportedly the other suitor, but dropped out early in the afternoon on Thursday.

The Lakers therefore have only four total draft picks under their control in the next four years, and not all of those picks are even eligible for trades. NBA rules prohibit teams from sending away first-round picks in consecutive future drafts, though teams are allowed to deal their own first-round picks two years in a row if they possess a pick from another team. In other words: The Lakers can trade only this year’s first-round pick from the Rockets. They can’t trade the 2016 pick or their 2018 pick because they already traded the 2017 pick. So, the next year the Lakers can trade a first-round pick after that is 2019.

The Celtics were reported to have “renewed willingness” to deal Rondo on Wednesday afternoon. It’s a rumor that’s been hanging over the franchise for a long time at this point. Wojnarowski reported Boston is primarily talking to Western Conference teams, and Dallas and Houston would certainly make sense from a fit perspective.

Rondo is averaging over eight points and 10 assists per game for the Celtics this season while leading the league in triple-doubles with three. He turns 29 later this season.

Wojnarowski cites a source who says Boston’s asking price is “pretty high, probably higher than most want to pay.” Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

Rondo is finally back to the eccentric playmaker he was before tearing his ACL in 2012. In 21 games this season, Rondo is averaging eight points, 10.6 assists and 7.5 rebounds per game on 40 percent shooting from the floor. He also leads the NBA in triple-doubles this season with three.