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Celtics trade Rajon Rondo to Mavericks

David Butler II / USA Today Sports

The Mavericks and Celtics have agreed to a trade that will see Boston point guard Rajon Rondo move to Dallas, the teams announced Thursday. 

The Mavericks will send three reserves - center Brandan Wright, swingman Jae Crowder and point guard Jameer Nelson - a 2015 first-round draft pick, and a future second-round pick to Boston. The Celtics will package rookie power forward Dwight Powell with Rondo in the exchange.

The 2015 draft pick also comes with some protections that may push it back a year. According to Adrian Wojarowski of Yahoo Sports, the pick is both top-three and 15-30 protected this year, meaning the Celtics only get to keep it if it falls in the 4-14 range. With the Mavericks a near-lock to both make the playoffs and finish with a top-15 record, the Celtics will most likely be getting Dallas' pick in 2016 (when, for the record, it's top-seven protected). 

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated reported earlier that the Celtics planned to trade the assets they received in the trade before the Feb. 19 deadline, which explains why they worked so hard to complete the deal when they did. With two months and a day until the deadline, the Celtics will be able scrape through the 60-day re-aggregation window, after which traded players can be traded again. The Celtics are reportedly "pretty pleased" with the return they got. 

Trade talk has hounded Rondo and the Celtics for the better part of the last two seasons, and with the four-time All-Star now in a walk year, the Celtics mired in something resembling an organizational rebuild, and with rookie point guard Marcus Smart waiting in the wings, it seemed like a matter of time until a deal got done. 

In Rondo, the Mavericks get an elite distributor who defends his position exceptionally well. He leads the NBA in assists per game (10.8) this season, something he also did in 2011-12 (11.7) and 2012-13 (11.1). Over the past four seasons, no player in the league has bettered Rondo's 49.9 percent assist rate (the percentage of teammate field goals a players assists on while he's on the floor). 

Rondo is a two-time NBA All-Defensive first teamer (2010, 2011), a two-time second teamer (2009, 2012), and a one-time All-NBA third teamer (2012). 

The Mavericks will travel to Boston to play the Celtics on Jan. 2. 

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