DALLAS -- The Mavs' playoff-opening starting backcourt teamed up one last time on Wednesday ... for a double no-show at the team's Exit Interviews inside American Airlines Center.
Rajon Rondo is not especially welcome in the building anymore, having essentially quit on the team in the middle of the Game 2 playoff loss at Houston, and then claiming a "back injury'' when, sources tell FOX Sports Southwest, he was informed that his malingering performance would cause him to lose his starting role for Game 3.
While the players who did meet with team officials and then with the media put on a happy face regarding Rondo -- "I don't think hes a bad guy, it just didn't work,'' Chandler Parsons said -- Parsons, Tyson Chandler and Dirk Nowitzki and their teammates took an action that spoke volumes as they opted to not give Rondo a playoff share of the $209,000 split among those in the locker room.
Meanwhile, the team's leading scorer, Monta Ellis, did meet with management but declined the club's request that he meet with the media in the AAC basement, as is customary. The club has a growing concern with the moodiness of Ellis, who can opt out of his final contractual year in Dallas (worth $8.72 million) and is expected to do so.
"We'd love to keep him,'' said Dirk of Monta, noting that he's "the closer.''
But the lack of organizational cooperation is a bad look -- not because of the needs of the "poor'' media or even because fans would like to hear from the recalcitrant Monta, but rather because he bucked a direct request from his bosses.
Meanwhile, Chandler and others have to ponder free agency, Parsons is preparing for knee surgery and recruiting (I'm officially shifting into GM mode,'' he said) and Dirk is, as usually, emblematic of the team-first core that the Mavs will once again begin searching for.
"Yeah, I mean, whatever it takes," Nowitzki said of the possibility he'd move to the bench (if Dallas were to add, say, Portland free agent LaMarcus Aldridge). "I've always said that. My last two years I want to enjoy. I want to be a good team. I want to be on a winning team. Playoffs. Hopefully deep runs. So, yeah, anything I've got to do to help is obviously no question."
The Mavs backcourt of last week and its backcourt of next year? Big questions.
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