Mavs' Rondo out at least one week after collision with teammate
DALLAS — Mavericks point guard Rajon Rondo is out for at least this week after sustaining an orbital fracture to his left eye and a nasal fracture, the result of a fluke collision involving teammate Richard Jefferson in Saturday's win at Orlando.
"Things like that happen in basketball," Jefferson said Monday morning at the shootaround. "But you never like to see that collateral damage happen."
The Mavericks' assists leader after being acquired in trade from Boston on Dec. 18, Rondo missed Monday's home win vs. Minnesota and will skip road games this week against the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings.
The Mavs (33-17) said he will not travel with the team to the two West Coast games, and instead will remain in Dallas to undergo additional testing and evaluation.
Rondo sustained the injury just 98 seconds into the game against the Magic. He was down on the floor when Jefferson turned to sprint up-court, accidental kneeing his teammate in the face.
"I saw the replay it looked completely ugly," Dirk Nowitzki said on Saturday. "But (Rondo) is a tough kid, so the docs will check him out and then we'll go from there. But that was as hard of a hit as I've seen in this league."
In 21 games since being acquired from the Boston Celtics, Rondo has averaged 9.2 points, 6.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game. Overall this season, he is averaging 8.7 points, 8.7 assists and 6.3 rebounds per game.
"My thoughts go out to him — I want him to get better soon," Jefferson told The Associated Press. "Hopefully he has a quick and speedy recovery. Luckily we have the All-Star break not far away, so hopefully that gives him some more time to get right and get back. But he's a tough dude, a tough guy."
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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