Mavs get Rondo in deal with Celts
The Celtics traded point guard Rajon Rondo to Dallas on Thursday night, cutting ties with the last remnant of Boston's last NBA championship while giving Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks a chance at another title.
The Celtics traded point guard Rajon Rondo to Dallas on Thursday night, cutting ties with the last remnant of Boston's last NBA championship while giving Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks a chance at another title.
The Celtics will send Rondo and forward Dwight Powell to Dallas for Jae Crowder, Brandan Wright, Chester native Jameer Nelson, and two draft picks, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the trade was not official yet.
Boston will acquire a first-round pick in next year's draft and a second-rounder in 2016. The Celtics have eight first-round picks in the next four years, picking them up in trades for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce and even coach Doc Rivers as they shed the pieces of the new Big Three that earned the team its unprecedented 17th NBA title in 2008.
The Mavericks get a pass-first point guard - a four-time all-star - to team with Nowitzki, Monta Ellis, and Chandler Parsons in a move they hope will make them a contender again. Dallas is 19-8 but in third place in the Southwest Division and sixth in the Western Conference.
The Mavericks won their only NBA title in 2011 but have not won a playoff series since.
The deal has been years in the making, with the Celtics shopping Rondo every time a coach grows tired of his moods or his contract expectations grow too large for their budget. But every previous time Boston management decided that the offers weren't enough.
Rondo, 28, joined the rebuilding Celtics as the 21st overall pick out of Kentucky in 2006 and became the point guard for an NBA champion in his second year, when Boston acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett the next summer. He helped the Celtics reach the NBA Finals again two years later.
Going the distance
The Memphis Grizzlies ended years of frustration in San Antonio and had to play late into the night to do it. Marc Gasol scored 26 points, including a banked-in three-pointer as regulation expired, and Memphis overcame blowing a 23-point lead for a 117-116 triple-overtime victory over the Spurs on Wednesday.
The Grizzlies were seconds from defeat at the close of regulation and in the first and third overtimes, but showed the fortitude needed to snap a 10-game losing streak in San Antonio.
Memphis had not won at the AT&T Center since sweeping the Spurs in the 2011 playoffs.
"It's the biggest game for us because they've been beating us," Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph said. "The last time we won here was what, the playoffs, right? It's a long time. They have our number. It felt good to get a win, to get that confidence."
Bogut out indefinitely
Just as they have the past two seasons, the Golden State Warriors will have to get by without center Andrew Bogut for an undetermined amount of time. The team announced that Bogut is out indefinitely after undergoing platelet-rich plasma therapy on his ailing right knee. The Warriors said Bogut consulted with the team's medical staff and his personal physician from Australia before deciding on the treatment.
Butler leads Bulls
Jimmy Butler scored a career-high 35 points, and the host Chicago Bulls beat the New York Knicks, 103-97, in a game that was missing all-stars Derrick Rose (illness) and Carmelo Anthony (sore left knee).
- Associated Press