clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Rajon Rondo will reportedly NOT make season debut on Sunday

It sounds like Lakers guard Rajon Rondo is going to take a little longer to come back from his calf strain, and will not return against the Raptors.

If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Los Angeles Lakers v Dallas Mavericks Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported late on Friday night that Rajon Rondo was planning to play his first game of the season for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Toronto Raptors, but Haynes reported on Saturday night that things have since changed, and that Rondo is now no longer targeting Sunday as his debut:

Earlier in the day, Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times reported that Rondo had gone through a workout and his availability would depend on how he responded to it:

Evidently Rondo did not respond as well as he or the team would like, and so what the team is calling a "mid right calf strain" will cost Rondo another game.

How does that affect the Lakers? It depends on who you ask. After their season-opening loss to the LA Clippers, the Lakers appeared to sorely need another playmaker to deal with ball pressure and create for others so that the sole burden for doing so didn't rest with LeBron James.

Since then, the Lakers have won their next seven games in a row heading into Sunday, and while there have been times it appeared the team could still use another ballhandler on the floor, they have mostly figured out ways to deal with that problem. Does that make the downsides of playing Rondo (his at times inattentive defense, his lack of gravity, etc.) bigger than the aid he could potentially provide as another creator and veteran floor general? That's a question that will complicate an already crowded rotation for Frank Vogel, and one he'll ultimately have to find a satisfactory answer to.

But regardless of where one lands in the debate on how much or if Rondo can be effective for this ballhandling-bereft roster, and irrespective of whether the Lakers actually have a role for him or not, given that the team has started out 7-1 without Rondo, there would seem to be little sense in rushing him back.

Someday we'll get answers on if Rondo can help this team. That day just won't be Sunday.

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the Silver Screen & Roll Daily Roundup newsletter!

A daily roundup of Los Angeles Lakers news from Silver Screen & Roll