As an inappropriately frequent purveyor of exceedingly sarcastic humor, we feel for Rajon Rondo. There’s a clear hint of desert dry irony in the voice of the Sacramento Kings point guard here. If the reporter had asked him to expand on that potentially incendiary comment, Rondo surely would have indicated as much, too.
But it didn’t happen, leading to stories across the basketball web of potential unrest between the Kings’ new floor general and head coach. Fortunately, both Rondo and George Karl are taking the internet’s justifiable misunderstanding in stride.
Karl jokingly to Rondo leaving the court: "let's go have an argument."
— Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) October 14, 2015
Nothing to see here, folks. But if Karl’s obvious jest isn’t enough for you, perhaps Rondo admitting that he was just “having some fun” with a fresh media member will do the trick.
Kings PG Rajon Rondo tells reporters he was joking and that he and George Karl do not have issues. pic.twitter.com/2ph5FW68E1
— Deuce Mason (@DeuceMason) October 14, 2015
Of course, this non-story only had any legs whatsoever because of rocky relationships both coach and player have had with others in the past.
Rondo publicly butted heads with Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle last March, and was banished by the team two months later – before Dirk Nowitzki and company had been eliminated from the playoffs. Even Doc Rivers has made no secret of the former All-Star’s natural penchant for getting under the skin of coaches.
Karl, meanwhile, is mere weeks removed from a spat with DeMarcus Cousins that at one time rendered his future with the Kings in question. The 64-year-old has a long history of disagreements with players, too, a reality that led to Sacramento’s franchise player following the lead of Carmelo Anthony and others with a thinly veiled tweet about snakes in cut grass.
We’ve long believed that these Kings, a group of mismatched puzzle pieces Karl is tasked with somehow fitting together, are doomed to fail. Could attitudes be their undoing as much as on-court friction? Absolutely.
Some advice for Rondo and Karl, then: Avoid sarcasm at the moment. Sacramento is simply in too tenuous a position for that brand of wit to be universally understood – at least until it proves a better, more cohesive team than so many are anticipating.
