Rajon Rondo vs. Isaiah Thomas News: Players Ejected From Game After On-Court Spat Over Celtics Tribute Video
Days before the NBA All-Star Weekend, Rajon Rondo and Isaiah Thomas were both ejected from the New Orleans Pelicans vs. Los Angeles Lakers game for fighting on the court.
The Wednesday night game between the Lakers and the Pelicans saw a heated confrontation between Rondo and Thomas early on. With 33.3 seconds left on the clock in the first quarter, the on-court spat started with a flagrant foul called on Rondo after the referees saw the two getting too physical, and at some point, his elbow hit Thomas' face.
A few moments later, the two point guards got into a verbal altercation that later sent them both off the court.
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Earlier on in the year, Rondo was vocal about Thomas not deserving a special tribute video and recognition from the Celtics. The latter's former team was reportedly supposed to show it to thank the player for the three seasons he played in Boston but it was postponed since Thomas was not in the first game the Cleveland Cavaliers faced the Celtics.
According to Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, when asked about the tribute video for Thomas, the 9-season Celtics player said: "What has he done?"
"This is the Boston Celtics. This isn't the Phoenix Suns, no disrespect to any other organization, but you don't hang conference titles," Rondo added.
Meanwhile, there were also rumors that the on-court scuffle between Rondo and Thomas intensified when the players argued "who was the more beloved Celtics point guard." Rondo reportedly said something about the video tribute and Thomas was rumored to have insulted him about "being carried by the Big 3" when he was still a Celtics player.
The Big 3 included Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen who brought basketball magic to the Celtics from 2007 to 2012.
There were no confirmations on whether the fight was really caused by these word exchanges. When Thomas was asked about the incident, the player maintained he had no idea what really caused the fight.
"I don't know what was going on with [Rondo]. I don't know why I got thrown out. I don't want to comment too much on it. ... It was obvious what was going on. He was being too aggressive for whatever reason, and he also hit me in the face three times," Thomas said, according to ESPN.
Apart from Thomas, Lakers head coach Luke Walton was also later sent out of the game after a foul was called on Kyle Kuzma at the latter part of second quarter. In a video, Walton can be seen shouting words towards the game officials, and at some point, Julius Randle needed to step in and contain him from further approaching the referees.
