Rajon Rondo insisted he did not intentionally spit at Houston Rockets guard Chris Paul, whom he also called a “horrible teammate.”
Paul, Rondo and Lakers forward Brandon Ingram were all handed suspensions by the NBA for their involvement in the brawl at Staples Center on Sunday.
In an interview with ESPN on Wednesday (Manila time), Rondo said he was wearing a mouthpiece and that his body language during the incident implied he did not spit at Paul.
“Look at my body language [in the video]. My hands on my hips. I turn away for a second. Look at Eric (Gordon} and Melo (Carmelo Anthony) in the video. If they saw me spit, they would have turned their face up or something. They had no reaction.”
Rondo hit out at Paul’s “good guy” reputation that he thinks may have led the NBA from only giving Paul a two-game suspension.
The 32-year-old Rondo was given a three-game suspension for spitting and throwing punches at Paul while Ingram, who appeared to have triggered the melee after shoving Rockets guard James Harden and was also seen throwing a punch at Paul, was slapped with a four-game ban.
“Of course, the NBA went with his side because I got three games and he got two,” Rondo said in the same interview. “Everyone wants to believe Chris Paul is a good guy. They don’t know he’s a horrible teammate. They don’t know how he treats people. Look at what he did last year when he was in L.A.; trying to get to the Clippers’ locker room. They don’t want to believe he’s capable of taunting and igniting an incident.”