Rajon Rondo is only the second player in NBA history to win a championship with two of the most storied franchises and bitter rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, after Clyde Lovellette (1954 with Minneapolis Lakers, 1963 and 1964 with the Celtics).
Ironically, Rondo won with the Celtics in 2008 against the Lakers led by Kobe Bryant. In 2020, he won his second ring with the Lakers inside the NBA bubble in Orlando alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
In a recent Draymond Green Show podcast appearance, Rondo revealed the Lakers title is a “little more special” for him than the Celtics ring.
“You can’t compare the two honestly because, in 2020, we were in the bubble, so we didn’t get a parade,” Rondo said. “So I’ve only had one parade, and that was the most amazing thing that’s happened to me in basketball. That type of love and reaction to see the fans, you’ve seen it this year, but to be a part of it, to get on a duck boat and go on a tour, was amazing.
“That’s the only opportunity I’ve got to have a parade, but at that particular time I won it in 2020, my son was in the bubble with me, and that made that moment a little more special winning it in 2020.”
Rajon Rondo Dishes on Lakers Bubble Championship
While the 2020 NBA bubble championship won by the Lakers was a unique experience, some fans and pundits put an asterisk on it, with Shaquille O’Neal, a former Laker, being the most vocal about it.
While some were downplaying the Lakers’ accomplishment inside the NBA bubble, Rondo doesn’t want other people’s opinions to ruin the experience, which he said he enjoyed a lot.
“To me, I enjoy the bubble because you get to see the guy every day that you get to see the enemy, and there’s no distractions,” Rondo said. “There’s no outside [distractions], no hotel, flights. Everybody’s in one room, so there’s no excuse. It’s check ball. No fans. There’s no advantages. It’s my best five against your best five, and figure it out.”
Rondo, one of the smartest players in his era, said he enjoyed the mental aspect of their focused preparation for the games without outside distractions.
“I love that mind [game], that concept of we go right to the room then we go to film, we were able to learn a lot more during that time than I would say if we were able to go home, practice have other distractions,” he explained.
Game Planning with LeBron James
Playing with another high-IQ player in James, Rondo shared they game-planned together for their still-to-be-determined NBA Finals opponent after they made quick work of the Denver Nuggets (4-1) in the Western Conference Finals.
“We’re watching the game,” Rondo said, “I think it was Miami and Boston again. And we were sitting in the room watching the game, and like I said, it went down to the wire. So, Bron’s like, ‘If we get Miami, I got Spo, and if we get Boston, you got Brad [Stevens].’
“So that was kind of our mindset. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna beat the Heat, or we’re gonna beat the [Boston] Celtics.’ It was more so if we can outcoach or outplay the coaches on that staff in particular, which two guys we felt that we knew pretty good, we were gonna win.”
The Heat eventually beat the Celtics in six games. And the Lakers, with James contributing heavily on the floor and film sessions against his former coach, Erik Spoelstra, won the championship in six games against the Heat.
