The Lakers have signed guard Rajon Rondo, bringing a piece back from their 2020 NBA championship team for a role on their bench.
Rondo spent last season with the Hawks and the Clippers, struggling to recapture any of the magic he cooked up in Orlando during the NBA bubble, when he was arguably the Lakers’ third-best player for large stretches of the postseason.
Rondo, 35, will sign for the veteran’s minimum.
The Clippers traded Rondo to Memphis, with the Grizzlies waiving the veteran over the weekend after a contract buyout.
Rondo will vie for minutes in the Lakers’ backcourt with Russell Westbrook, Kendrick Nunn, Malik Monk, Wayne Ellington and Talen Horton-Tucker.
Rondo, a 15-year veteran, is a four-time All-Star and two-time champion, with career averages of 10.0 points and 8.1 assists per game. Last season, he averaged a career-low 5.4 points while dishing out just 4.4 assists per game in a season where injuries limited him to 45 games.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.