Rajon Rondo Suspended 1 Game For Conduct Detrimental To Team

The Dallas Mavericks suspended point guard Rajon Rondo for the Feb. 25 game against the Atlanta Hawks for conduct detrimental to the team. He had a heated exchange with head coach Rick Carlisle during Dallas’ win over the Toronto Raptors on Feb. 23.

The Dallas Mavericks have suspended point guard Rajon Rondo for one game. 

According to The Dallas Morning News’ Eddie Sefko, the Mavericks suspended Rondo for the game against the Atlanta Hawks on Feb. 25 “for conduct detrimental to the team.” He and head coach Rick Carlisle had a heated exchange during the third quarter of Tuesday’s 99-92 win over the visiting Toronto Raptors. 

Sefko says “Carlisle appeared to be angry as he called a timeout and Rondo reacted by yelling at the coach.” 

In a separate Feb. 25 update, Sefko’s sources claim Rondo and Carlisle’s argument extended into the post-game locker room. Sefko stresses that definitely weighed heavily on management’s decision to suspend Rondo.

Rondo declined to answer the media’s questions about what transpired between him and his head coach during the Toronto game. According to ESPN Dallas’ Tim MacMahon, all Rondo said was: “Discuss with Rick.” 

Carlisle blames the shouting match between himself and Rondo on poor communication, per The Dallas Morning News:

“He’s an important part of our team. Our efforts to get to the highest possible level largely hinge on him playing and playing well with him. He needs to play with us and we need to play well with him. It’s a two-way street.

“The incident last night was born in large part from poor communication between him and I. And that’s on both of us. We had a long talk about the situation today and we both agreed that we need to communicate more frequently and we need to work on the solution for making his stint as a Dallas Maverick the most successful one possible.”

Sefko points out Carlisle and Rondo aim to iron out their differences during Friday’s practice. The Mavericks head coach told The Dallas Morning News the team should put the incident behind them:

“It’s one game, we’ll be off (Thursday). He’ll practice Friday and he’ll be back in the starting lineup on Saturday. The events of last night are in the past. And we got to move forward.

Rajon Rondo Suspended One Game For Altercation With Rick Carlisle – http://t.co/nnuItx5WGp pic.twitter.com/mI7n22ZLhS— NBA On Def Pen (@NBAOnDefPen) February 25, 2015

“For us to get where we want to get and we strive to get this season, his abilities have to be utilized by us the best possible way. That’s in large part my responsibility and I do not dodge that. That starts with great communication with him. I’m always working on being a better communicator. And we talked about it. And he admitted he’s got to do the same. We’ll go forward from here.”

The Dallas Morning News points out this is not the first time Carlisle has tangled with one of his players. Brendan Haywood let loose a slew of choice words at him during practice with the Mavericks eventually sending him home from a road game against the San Antonio Spurs. The team also suspended him. Center Samuel Dalembert also received a suspension for being tardy to several workout sessions. 

Carlisle also had several spats with former Mavericks point guard (now Milwaukee Bucks head coach) Jason Kidd. The Dallas head coach tells Sefko that Kidd and Rondo are vastly different:

“They’re really just vastly different. Kidd’s a totally different player than Rondo. We’re in a situation where his abilities mesh with our team a certain way. And there is more play-calling when he’s on the floor because that’s been the most successful way for us to play offensively. 

“So he and I early on talked a lot about the right plays to call and the right tempo to play at and we got away from it a little bit and we got to get back to it. That’s on both of us.” 

For his part, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told MacMahon on Thursday he’s not making a big deal out of the recent Rondo-Carlisle feud:

“S— happens. Not the first time, not the last time. It’ll happen again. It’s not just Rajon. It’s a long season. In my 15 years, I’ve seen it happen more times than I can count, and we survive every time.”

Rondo traveled to Atlanta with his teammates on Wednesday but was not at Philips Arena, per Sefko.

He was not the only Mavericks player to sit out that game. Tyson Chandler (hip), Chandler Parsons (ankle) and Amar’e Stoudemire (rest) also didn’t against the Hawks, per MacMahon. 

The Eastern Conference-leading Hawks (45-12) beat the short-handed Mavericks (39-21), 104-87, on Wednesday behind reserve guard Dennnis Schroder’s 17 points. Shooting guard Monta Ellis led Dallas with 19 points. 

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