Will Rajon Rondo's and Delonte West's Off the Court Antics Distract the Boston Celtics?

Between the antics of point guard Rajon Rondo and backup guard Delonte West, could the Boston Celtics have a potential problem, or problems, as the NBA season now shifts into full gear?

Delonte West came to Boston from Cleveland amidst a whirlwind of rumors that he had had an affair with then teammate LeBron James' mother, Gloria James, last season.

On top of the Gloria James rumors, he has yet to play for the Celtics as he is finishing up a ten game suspension for gun possession. But that hasn't stopped him from being in the news, as early in the season he got into a fight with teammate Von Wafer after a Celtics practice.

While for the most part the mainstream media had not asked West question about Gloria James over the summer, when he arrived in Boston he was asked, albeit in a low key and understated manner. While he denied the rumors (sort of), the amount of publicity that the supposed affair received over the summer ensures that the story will probably never go away.

More problematic for the Celtics, however than both his gun suspension (which is almost over) and his alleged dalliance with James, was the fact that he, as a suspended role player got into an altercation. With proud veterans such as Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce leading the Celtics, and with future Hall of Fame center Shaquille O'Neal coming off the bench, the Celtics will not suffer foolish behavior gladly.

Rajon Rondo has not had any sort of off the court trouble...at least until now. Website MediaTakeOut.com is reporting that Rondo texted his ex-girlfriend while his fiancé was pregnant with his child. By itself that would not likely be a big deal as far as the Celtics are concerned.

But the website reports that something occurred a while back when the same ex-girlfriend read that Rondo was engaged to another woman. The report on the website states: "You see, his girlfriend is a MediaTakeOut.com reader and when she confronted him about his engagement some ISH HAPPENED. Now we're not gonna get into EXACTLY what he did, cause we ain't trying to SNITCH and get him in trouble with the NBA. But let's just say it wasn't good."

At the present time, there is no report that Rondo is in trouble with the league or anybody else. But it is often difficult to keep things quiet when stories about professional athletes are alleged.

Perhaps the Boston Celtics will get Delonte West on the floor, and the he, Delonte West and the rest of the team will play seamlessly and go deep into the playoffs.

But there is no doubt that between West's alleged affair with Gloria James affair, fight with a teammate and gun suspension, and the insinuation that Rajon Rondo has done something that would cause problems with the league, the Celtics have at least some reason to be a bit concerned that all might not be smooth the rest of the way.

Sources:

Steve Bulpett, "C's point in Delonte West's direction", Bostonherald.com
Staff, "Busted! Engaged NBA superstar Rondo got a jumpoff...and we got the secret text messages to prove it!", mediatakeout.com