Although not officially announced, two-time NBA champion Rajon Rondo‘s playing career appears to be over.
The former Kentucky point guard was on campus last weekend, and it wasn’t just to catch the Wildcats take on then-No. 9 Kansas. On Friday, Kentucky Sports Radio’s Jack Pilgrim reported that Rondo is in “early conversations” with Kentucky head coach John Calipari about joining his staff for the 2023-24 season.
Pilgrim notes that Rondo would serve as a student assistant, which requires that he be enrolled as a full-time student with at least 12 credit hours to qualify. As of early January, Rondo has been back on campus taking classes and working toward finishing his degree.
In his two years in Lexington, Rondo averaged 9.6 points, 4.2 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game. He helped guide Kentucky to an Elite Eight appearance as a freshman in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. The following year, the Wildcats lost in the second round of the tournament, and Rondo headed to the NBA.
As a professional, Rondo enjoyed more success than during his college career. In 16 seasons, the four-time All-Star has averaged 9.8 ppg, 7.9 apg and 4.5 rpg, leading the NBA in steals once and assists three times. His 7,584 career assists are the 14th most in NBA history.
Rondo reached the NBA Finals three times in his career, winning two championships, one with the Celtics in 2008 and another with the Lakers in 2020.
Calipari hired another former Kentucky point guard, Tyler Ulis (2014-16), as a student assistant this season. Ulis, the SEC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year for the 2015-16 season, stepped away from basketball last year after suffering injuries from a head-on collision.
Ulis and Rondo are regarded as two of the greatest point guards in school history.
If hired, Rondo’s expertise will be invaluable to Kentucky’s 2023 recruiting class, which includes No. 1 PG prospect D.J. Wagner and No. 1 SG Robert Dillingham, per ESPN’s rankings. According to 247Sports, Kentucky has the highest-ranked recruiting class in the nation for 2023.
