There was a slimmer of hope that Rajon Rondo would play for the Chicago Bulls in Game 5 on Wednesday night. According to Rondo, that’s not happening.
During the Chicago Bulls‘ victory in Game 2 of their first round series with the Boston Celtics, Rajon Rondo suffered a small fracture to his right thumb and missed the next two games.
Late on Tuesday night, reports began to speculate that Rondo would be able to suit up and play in Game 5 with the series tied at two games apiece in Boston.
The ultimate source of the information on Rondo’s status, Rajon Rondo himself, shot down any chance of him playing on Wednesday during the morning shootaround.
Rondo said he's out for Game 5.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) April 26, 2017
When asked about the thumb, Rondo said a couple of things. First, that he really can’t do much with the finger still.
Rondo said he can't do much with the thumb still. "It's still broke."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) April 26, 2017
Then, when Rondo was asked about his status for Game 6 back in Chicago, he mentioned that it was too early to tell at this point.
Also, this doesn’t sound good either.
Hoiberg said Rondo "has a significant amount of swelling and soreness." Hoiberg reiterates its "longshot" that he returns.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) April 26, 2017
Rondo says there is no shot he can take in his thumb that would help ease the pain.
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) April 26, 2017
Well, let’s break this situation down into a few parts here:
- The doctors told Rondo that he would have to miss a couple weeks. It’s only been eight days and it’s clear that he’s still in pain and can’t do anything with that thumb on his dominant hand.
- It doesn’t sound like Rondo wants to commit to anything in terms of Game 6. Unless something drastic happens on Wednesday, it’s safe to assume the Bulls will be a 3-2 hole. (When you have the point guards that the Bulls have, you can see why you can assume this, but remember … it’s the Bulls.)
- Just because he’s played through injury before doesn’t mean he can do it again. It’s about how much pain tolerance Rondo has and the factor of doing even more damage.
Oh, and there’s this, too. Rondo’s wrist wasn’t just sore.
It has a torn ligament because of course it does.
It was previously known cast was to immobilize wrist injury Rondo was playing through but today is 1st tm Rondo said he had "torn ligament"
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) April 26, 2017
From the talks at Wednesday’s shootaround and the vibe surrounding Rondo right now, it definitely doesn’t sound like he’s returning to action anytime soon.
Next: Bulls at Celtics, Game 5: Live stream, how to watch, game information
Unfortunately for him and the Bulls, there’s not a lot of time left.