Rajon Rondo Withdraws From Team USA

Rajon Rondo

Team USA has its 12-man roster set for the FIBA World Championship.. Whether or not they made the cut or the cut was made for them is the question.

Rajon Rondo was left off the final roster, presumably being cut by head coach Mike Krzyzewski. He played poorly against Lithuania Saturday and was benched Sunday for USA’s high-profile exhibition against Spain, his first “DNP-Coach’s Decision” since his rookie year in the NBA.

In a release, however, USA Basketball director Jerry Colangelo gave the impression that Rondo decided to leave because of outside factors.

“Rajon came to us and said he was going to withdraw from the team, that he had some family matters to attend to and some things to take care of before the NBA season,” Colangelo said. “He did an outstanding job during our training, we appreciate the effort and commitment he made to our program and he completely has our support.”