IRVINE, Calif. — In June, when former NBA All-Star and two-time champion Rajon Rondo married his wife in Lake Como, Italy, his first NBA head coach was among the attendees. And there, Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers delivered his former point guard a message.
“Get your ass to camp,” Rivers told Rondo, as Rondo recalled to ESPN on Thursday.
With that, Rondo has spent the week with the Bucks as a guest coach for their training camp at UC Irvine, and Rivers told ESPN that Rondo will remain with the team in an unspecified capacity this season. “You’ll see him a lot,” Rivers said. “That’s all I’ll say.”
Rondo, who last played with the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers in 2021-22 and formally retired from a 16-season NBA career this past April, said he “absolutely” hopes to be an NBA coach someday.
“There’s a lot of factors that go into coaching,” Rondo said. “You just can’t say, I’m going to be a coach, and then everything works out and that’s how it happens. So certain personalities have to mesh, [and there’s] a lot of sacrifice. There are certain things that I’m learning. The morning meetings, the amount of hours you’re spending watching film, it’s a lot.”
Wearing a Bucks hoodie and sweatpants, Rondo has been assisting players during practice and filling up a notebook with handwritten observations.
“I’m learning what it looks like,” he said of being on a coaching staff.
Rondo said he doesn’t have an exact path in mind.
“You see people go from not coaching to head-coaching jobs all the time,” he said. “A lot of people go straight to becoming assistant coaches. So there’s just no path. I just want to seek as much information as possible.”
Rondo declined to say whether he received any offers from other teams, but he said he appreciated that Rivers, who coached Rondo for seven seasons in Boston, is giving him this opportunity.
Rivers returned the praise.
“He’s the smartest player I’ve ever coached — and not just smart,” Rivers told ESPN. “He knows when to and when not to say stuff. He’s a great team builder. It’s just fun, and it’s great to have him around.”
Asked whether he’s finding his voice as a coach, Rondo said, “I think I’ve always had that. It’s hard for me to be quiet…
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