Rajon Rondo trade rumors: Kobe Bryant denies recruiting Rajon Rondo for the Lakers

Rajon RondoWikipedia

Will Rajon Rondo strip off his green and white Boston Celtics' official uniform in exchange for LA Lakers' gold and purple jersey next season? 

Rumors started to circulate online about Rondo's alleged talk with the Lakers main man Kobe Bryant, which is purportedly meant to encourage the former to move to Los Angeles next season. Speculations about the deal between the two players arose when they were seen hanging out and having breakfast before their respective teams faced each other on court Saturday. It sparked the rumors that the Black Mamba is recruiting the 28-year-old point guard to join his team next season. 

But Bryant quickly denied the rumors, and claimed that no such negotiations happened between him and Rondo. 

"We just talked about the game, we talked about the league. We talked about good old memories of playing in the series against each other, stuff like that -- different strategies and things they tried to do against us and things we tried to do against them," he shared. "It was a basketball geek conversation." 

Still, Bryant has nothing but praises for the Celtics star. According to him, Rondo is "Extremely intelligent. Very, very smart. Prepares very well, and he understands the deeper [subtleties] of the game. I just never really understood how a guy that size could get 17, 20 rebounds. I still don't really understand that. It's unbelievable." 

Rondo's alleged move to other teams stems from the fact that his contract with the Celtics is about to expire. His upcoming free agency status means that he can opt to choose playing for any team that he likes, even if it is not the Celtics. 

However, the four-time NBA All-Star claimed that he has no intentions of leaving the team at the moment. 

"Regardless of what's going on with the season, my position hasn't changed," Rondo stated in an interview last month with A. Sherrod Blakely from CSNNE.com. "I love being a Celtic."