2-Time NBA Champion Point Guard Retires

He won two NBA championships, more than a decade apart, while earning four All-Star berths over the course of a 16 year career. Now, point guard Rajon Rondo is retiring from the game of basketball. 

4x All Star and 2x NBA champion Rajon Rondo announces his retirement 🙏

(via @allthesmokeprod) pic.twitter.com/ow5v4w9SHq

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 2, 2024

The 38-year-old made the announcement during an appearance on the All The Smoke podcast. Rondo said it's time for him to spend more time with his children. 

Rondo was a key member of the 2008 Boston Celtics that lifted the Larry O'Brien trophy, and then was a veteran leader and key player off the bench for the LA Lakers when they took the title in 2020. Some of Rondo's other career accomplishments:

• 4-time All-Defensive Team
• 2-time assists champion
• Top 15 all-time in assists
• One of four players to average 11+ assists four or more times (along with John Stockton, Magic Johnson and Steve Nash)
• One-time steals leader

When Matt Barnes asked Rondo if we've seen the last of him in the NBA, the point guard's answer was emphatic: "Absolutely.

"What a time. It's something that I've never taken for granted. I loved every minute of it."

He last played in the 2021-22 season, splitting his time between the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers, averaging 6.2 points, 4.9 assists, 2.8 rebounds in 19.4 minutes for the Cavs.

For his career, in 957 regular-season games, he averaged 9.8 points, 7.9 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals. His 7,584 assists, as noted above, leaves him 15th on the NBA's all-time assists list. 

Photo: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports