Danny Ainge Not Anticipating a Rajon Rondo Trade

Boston Celtics’ GM Danny Ainge did his best to shoot down the latest round of Rajon Rondo trade rumors, saying that he anticipates the point guard (whom Ainge referred to as the C’s best player) sticking around town for a while. From the Boston Herald: “I anticipate him being here for a long time,’ the Celtics president said when asked about Rondo’s immediate future. Though the ever-stubborn Rondo has had his moments of petulance this season, most recently with a two-game suspension for throwing the ball at referee Sean Wright, Ainge insisted that the guard’s relationship with coach Doc Rivers has actually improved. As documented in a Herald story last December, Rondo threw a bottle into a video screen during a team meeting during the playoffs last season in response to a critique by the Celtics coach. ‘Rondo and Doc get along fine,’ said Ainge. ‘That doesn’t mean there aren’t bumps in the road. But I think Rondo and Doc are actually better now than they have ever been. But there are other issues that concern us a lot more than that. There’s nothing new to this.’ Ainge also said that he is not actively shopping Rondo, noting that his last active negotiation was with New Orleans last summer during his ill-fated attempt to trade for Chris Paul. ‘These rumors have never stopped, but I haven’t made a call mentioning Rondo’s name since last summer,’ said Ainge. ‘That was during all of the Chris Paul stuff. Now, this time of year you’re going to get a lot of calls from other teams,’ he said. ‘But that’s just normal. I don’t anticipate anything happening.'”