Whether the reports of Rajon Rondo telling his teammates he wants to be traded from the Boston Celtics as soon as possible are true or not doesn’t matter. The point guard has one more season left on his contract and with a long rebuilding process still going on, there should be a separation.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Rondo is asking to leave. He was playing next to Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Now? Pretty much no one. Maybe Jeff Green deserves a mention. We still don’t know how good Marcus Smart can and will be, and if he is that good, it’s just another reason to start speeding up the process of finding a new team for Rondo, who is a great point guard to have, but only if he has great players next to him.

According to Jackie McMullan Rondo wants out. Where? It doesn’t matter, but the sooner the better. This comes a week after reports of players around the league, stars the Celtics were hoping to get at some point, don’t want to play alongside Rondo, who has something of a diva reputation that seems to increase each season. No longer just a quote by Kendrick Perkins, it got stronger and more believable after Ray Allen was pushed out of the team.

There has been this whole Sacramento Kings thing going on for some time, but with Rondo just one season away from becoming an unrestricted free agent, it’s no longer a case of the Celtics getting what they want for him; it’s going to become more and more difficult to get their desired value for a player who might bolt in a season or even less, depending on when this trade happens.

Right now, at $12 million a season, Rondo is on a good contract to have. He’s decent from mid range, and excellent passer (although some think it has more to do with him forcing assists and passes instead of taking better shots) and a very good defender when his attitude is in the right place. He’s also a bit too dirty for some’s taste in terms of how his competitive edge fleshes out, and is simply a terrible outside shooter, which is a big problem in the direction the NBA’s offenses are heading and especially for a point guard.

It’s now or never for Boston, who had big plans for Kevin Love in the summer of 2015 but now have to re-think some things. Maybe Eric Bledsoe or Greg Monroe, depending on what they do with their contracts. This rebuilding period is going to take a lot longer than initially promised, and something the Celtics should have done a long time ago, which is getting rid of Rondo before his value started sinking like a stone, is now a must action for them to make.

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