The LA Clippers have acquired Atlanta Hawks veteran Rajon Rondo in exchange for former man of the year Lou Williams, it was announced on Thursday.
The Clippers will also send two upcoming second-round drafts and cash considerations into the transaction.
Rondo, 35, offers the Clippers basketball championship, leadership and IQ experience as a goalkeeper. He returns to Los Angeles, where he won his second NBA title last season with the Lakers, before joining the Hawks in reconstruction with a two-year, $ 15 million deal.
Rondo also reconnects with Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, who was an assistant at the Boston Celtics from 2011 until 2013, when Rondo was with the Celtics.
Speaking Thursday night, Lue called Rondo “the way of my project” while in Boston.
“It’s intense, that’s what we need,” Lue added. “It’s hard. He understands the game. And he respects people and tells the truth. That was the most important thing in Boston, he was honest with him, telling him the truth and keeping it real with him.”
Lue said he’s not sure if Rondo will start or get off the bench.
“We have to have them all, they’re all healthy,” Lue said after the Clippers beat Spurs 98-85 Thursday night. “I’m just trying to see what works. It’s going to take a while. I’m not sure right now.”
Williams has won three of the last six awards for the sixth man of the year and just surpassed his 15,000 career points on Wednesday night in the San Antonio Clippers victory.
During Thursday’s game, Lue said he looked down at his bench during a slow start and told his assistants that this was the time he would like Williams.
“We will miss him for everything he brought and not just basketball,” Lue said. “I just think he was a great person. That’s what I love the most. We all knew he was a great basketball player, but only as a human being and what he represented and how he always lifted the team’s morale with everyone in the world. I swear it is what we will miss the most. “
Clippers striker Paul George called Williams’ trade a “difficult situation.”
“You hate to see these things happen,” George said. “We will miss Lou. The best way to do this, to fire him well, is to go out and try to win him over. [todo]”.