Lakers News: Rajon Rondo Felt Emotional In His Return To the Lakers

The 2021-22 Lakers season has a lot of different types of homecomings. Some of them are more long-time coming, such as Russell Westbrook coming back to the place where he grew up, and others are a little more personally contextualized, such as Carmelo Anthony coming to play with his friend LeBron James.

Others have some more recency, such as Dwight Howard's return to the Lakers, as he won a championship in LA in the 2020 bubble season.

So did Rajon Rondo.

Rondo was at Taco AF on Monday (info per TMZ) in honor of National Taco Day. A portion of all the sales on Monday at Taco AF went to the Downtown Women's Center, which "envisions a Los Angeles with every woman housed and on a path to personal stability. Our mission is to end homelessness for women in greater Los Angeles through housing, wellness, employment, and advocacy."

Rondo said that he was emotional at the Laker fans' warm reception when he checked into the Lakers first preseason game.

"I almost cried again last night," Rondo told TMZ. "It means everything. I was away for a year ... came back and the reception I got last night, I had to try to focus on the game."

Additional Context

Rondo left the Lakers after the 2020 championship. He spent the next season split between the Atlanta Hawks, and the other LA team--the Clippers. Rondo receiving a warm reception at Staples Center with the Laker colors on the floor was a balm for Rondo. On top of that, Rajon Rondo was a thorn in the side of Laker fans for a long time. He was on the Boston Celtics team that beat the Lakers in the 2008 Finals, and he was on the Celtics when the Lakers beat them in 7 games to win the 2010 Championship as well.

Rondo returning to the Lakers and getting his warm reception is a good gesture from Laker fans, and a good show of understanding what he meant to the Lakers in 2020, and what his presence should hopefully give in the 2021-22 season.