Los Angeles Lakers: Rajon Rondo is set to join elite company in assists

Los Angeles Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo continues to climb up the assists leaderboard, as he moves closer to the top 10.

Since coming into the league Rajon Rondo has been one of the best passers in the NBA. With his no-look and behind the back passes, he has had many highlight reels. Rondo possesses elite court vision that allows him to see the entire court as if he has four sets of eyes.

With the 2019-20 season approaching very quickly, Rondo is on pace to continue climbing up the leaderboard in career dimes. His current total of 6,975 ranks second among active players only behind his teammate LeBron James. That total is also good for 18th on the all-time list.

Currently Rondo averages 8.5 assists a game for his career, and last season he totaled pretty close to that number at eight per game. Since he has played 825 games over his career in 13 seasons that averages out to 63.4 games per year.

So let’s say Rondo can manage his career total of 8.5 per game and go by his average number of games played in 63, that would add 535 more assists onto his total and put him at 7,510 for his career. That would move him all the way up into the 13th spot all-time and move past Tony Parker, Tim Hardaway, Terry Porter, Lenny Wilkens and Maurice Cheeks.

That’s some pretty good company and Rondo is still only 33-years-old with more years of basketball left in him. Granted he may have more or less assists this year and he’s almost certain to be passed up by Russell Westbrook who is only 78 behind him and now in an offense that will score a ton.

LeBron James is slated to play more point guard this year, but that’s just giving him the fancy title. He’s basically been a point guard everywhere in his career as a ball-handler. Rondo shouldn’t see a decrease in his assist totals because his game is built on passing and he will see the ball about the same amount as he saw last year.

It goes to show how great of a passer Rondo has been in his career, and even without an elite offensive arsenal, he has carved out a great career. Having elite court vision allows you to see things other guys can’t and leave defenses on their toes.

It’s a huge testament that Rondo has been able to accomplish all he has done even with defenses sagging off him forcing him to shoot. He came into the league as a project and has turned into a guy who could fill the stat sheet with the best of them.

Rondo will almost certainly get into the top 10 assists of all time in a few years. It will be interesting to see if that will be good enough to get him into the Hall of Fame.