Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul don’t like each other. This has been common knowledge in NBA circles for quite some time but, on Saturday night, the two veteran point guards got into it as part of the greater incident involving Brandon Ingram and real, live punches being thrown on an NBA court.
Part of the fracas included allegations that Rondo spit in Paul’s face but, despite the presence of a video that seemingly confirmed that account, Rondo stood fast in his stance that he did not do so. In fact, he spoke to ESPN in an attempt to quell any notion that spitting took place and, within the same interview, Rondo had some choice words about Paul and the way he is (and should be) perceived.
“Of course, the NBA went with his side because I got three games and he got two,” Rondo said to ESPN in the interview. “Everyone wants to believe Chris Paul is a good guy. They don’t know he’s a horrible teammate. They don’t know how he treats people. Look at what he did last year when he was in L.A.; trying to get to the Clippers’ locker room. They don’t want to believe he’s capable of taunting and igniting an incident.”
Obviously, calling someone a “horrible teammate” isn’t going to go over well in every circle but, in the midst of all the back and forth, that particular quote may have gotten lost. If that took place in some places, Rockets GM Daryl Morey was seemingly not among the parties that breezed past it, as he sent a tweet that appeared to respond to Rondo’s statement.
— Daryl Morey 🗽🏀 (@dmorey) October 23, 2018
Because of the lack of clarity, it is possible that Morey would deny this tweet is a direct response to Rondo but few would believe that sentiment, unless there’s some other reason for the Rockets executive to tweet out a picture of a black pot and a black kettle.
In October, this is the kind of weird back and forth that makes the NBA great and, now that a general manager is a part of the narrative, it will be interesting to see if this takes any more twists and turns.
