The Los Angeles Lakers triumphed in the 2019-20 season after a long year full of unexpected twists and turns, with the season ending almost exactly a year after it started. The Finals against the Miami Heat were contested in the audience-free Orlando Bubble, as the Lakers managed to outlast every other team in the tough conditions it posed.
One of the reasons the Lakers secured that Finals win with a 4-2 margin was veteran point guard Rajon Rondo. However, Rondo had to ensure he got the playing time he deserved by exerting some veteran influence on LeBron James to ensure Lakers coach Frank Vogel made the right decision.
“People don’t know. Game 5, they didn’t play me, and I was pissed. Frank didn’t trust me. I looked at ‘Bron like, ‘Damn, I’m the only one who’s really been here with you, and you don’t play me in the fourth quarter?'”
“I was frustrated. I was the only other guy who’d won a championship. It might have been just me and Bron. For me to not play the fourth, I didn’t know what I had done. It was go time, I need to be on the court to make plays because this is what I do.”
“Before Game 6… Vogel’s my guy, but I know if Bron look over there and say, ‘Aye, he need to be in,’ then he’s in.”
Rajon Rondo says he had to tell LeBron James to get him some playing time in the 2020 Finals
“Vogel my guy but I know if Bron look over there and say ‘Aye he need to be in,’ then he’s in” 😅
(🎥 @wynetwork / h/t @Sports_Legacyy)
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 9, 2025
Rondo averaged 8.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 5.5 assists in 25.9 minutes per game across the 2020 Finals. His averages are carried by two sensational performances, the first coming in Game 2 of the series and the final one coming in the title-clinching Game 6 win.
Rondo had 16 points and 10 assists in Game 2, and had 19 points with four rebounds and assists in Game 6. The only game in which he played under 20 minutes was the Game 5 he was talking about. It probably had to do with Rondo going 2-14 from the field in Games 3 and 4, with Vogel electing to play different players at his disposal.
He was given another chance in Game 6, one that he more than happily took and delivered. Rondo was considered at the end of his career when he joined the Lakers, but his contributions to the Lakers after Avery Bradley chose to miss the bubble were incredible.
Those contributions landed Rondo a two-year, $15 million deal with the Atlanta Hawks. He’d fade out of the NBA after a stint with the Los Angeles Clippers, widely presumed to be retired now. He was heavily rumored to be joining the coaching staff at the current Lakers led by JJ Redick but wound up not being named with a long list of veteran coaches instead supplementing Redick.
This story also highlights how influential LeBron can be. Very few coaches can overrule LeBron on a court decision, so LeBron’s signal was all coach Vogel needed to ensure Rondo was given a bigger role in that game. As a result, he got to retire as one of the rare few to have won a title both with the Lakers and the Boston Celtics.
