Now that the Los Angeles Lakers has its second overall pick converted into the Steph Curry-ish but left-handed D'Angelo Russell, the team's craving for soon-to-be free agent and former champion point guard Rajon Rondo is reportedly gone, as per Bleacher Report's Thomas Duffy.

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The first to report this winding down was Sean Deveney of Sporting News, saying that the "Lakers had long been connected with point guard Rajon Rondo in free agency, in part because of his friendship with star Kobe Bryant, but the addition of Russell ends that possibility."

The Lakers' ringleader had long been enamored by Rondo's play-your-heart-out-of-your-sleeve attitude on the court and there were rumors that Bryant himself was trying to recruit the former Kentucky Wildcat from the Boston Celtics before he decided to go to the Dallas Mavericks in December of last year.

There were even pictures and reports about a breakfast meeting between the two in the same month and many Lakers fanatics were expecting Rondo to join the team soon after that.

But Rondo chose Dallas. And now Los Angeles is choosing Russell.

While the 19-year-old boy has yet to play a single professional game for him to be worthy of comparison to the 29-year-old four-time All-Star, two-time All-Defensive First Teamer, two-time NBA Assists Leader, one-time NBA champion playmaker, Mitch Kupchak and his crew are said to be seeing a lot of potential in Russell for the long term.

Perhaps another reason why the Lakers penchant for Rondo went sour was his disastrous stint with the Mavericks. His insubordinate attitude did not help increase his value in the free agency market at all and maybe even lowered it down, as per the Herald News.

The nine-year veteran had constant clashes with Mavs coach Rick Carlisle and only played two games in the postseason before he was sent home by the management.

Right now, teams had been reluctant in acquiring Rondo because of his infamous short-temperedness and childishness despite being in the league for many years.

However, Duffy said that the Lakers could still give Rondo another chance to redeem himself from bad press by signing him for a short-term deal. He could also be a mentor to both Russell and Jordan Clarkson as the two budding point guards grow their young NBA careers.

TagsNBA 2015, NBA news, NBA News 2015, NBA rumors, NBA Rumors 2015, NBA Trade Rumors, NBA trade rumors 2015, Rajon Rondo, D'Angelo Russell, Los Angeles Lakers