LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Former University of Kentucky basketball and NBA star Rajon Rondo was arrested Sunday in Indiana for unlawful possession of a firearm, drug paraphernalia and marijuana, according to court records and a spokesman for Indiana State Police.

Rondo was stopped for a traffic violation in Jackson County, Indiana, Sunday afternoon after a caller reported a black 2022 Tesla traveling recklessly on I-65 Southbound.

A trooper smelled marijuana, leading to a search that found a gun, a "personal use" amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, ISP spokesman Sgt. Stephen Wheeles said Monday night.

Rondo, 37, was not supposed to have a firearm because he had a no-contact order taken out against him in court. The charges are all misdemeanors.

A juvenile in Rondo’s vehicle at the time was released to a family member.

He was taken to the Jackson County Jail where he immediately posted a $700 bond, Wheeles said. 

An initial court hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 27, according to court records. 

An attorney listed for Rondo did not respond to requests for comment. 

Rondo, who played high school basketball in Louisville at Eastern before transferring to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, was a standout point guard for Kentucky before being drafted with the 21st pick of the first round of the 2006 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns. 

Rondo played 16 seasons in the NBA and won two NBA championships. He last played in the NBA in 2022 for the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

Earlier this month, the Greater Louisville Pride Foundation announced Rondo was one of six people in their Class of 2024 "hometown heroes" to get a banner to hang in the city. 

This is not Rondo's first brush with legal trouble. 

In 2022, a Louisville woman asked for an emergency protective order after she said Rondo "became enraged" and threatened her life. According to the EPO, the woman said Rondo was playing video games with a child when she asked the child to finish separating his laundry so she could wash the family's clothes.

When the child got up to do so, she said Rondo ripped the video game console out of the wall, went downstairs, smashed a tea cup plate, knocked over several water bottles and began yelling and cursing. According to the EPO, Rondo then went outside and knocked over the trash cans, stomped on the landscaping lights and drove his car onto the lawn.

The EPO goes on to say that when she confronted Rondo, he said "You're dead."

After briefly leaving the house, the woman said Rondo came back and beat on a window with a gun. In the EPO, she said Rondo was yelling at the kids, asking them why they were scared of him while he had a gun in his hand.

The children were "visibly upset and clearly scared that Rajon continued to brandish a gun," she wrote.

Instead of calling police, the woman called former interim Louisville Metro Police Chief Yvette Gentry, who eventually arrived at the house. However, the woman said Rondo wouldn't let Gentry inside.

The woman said she locked herself in the house with the kids, and Gentry eventually told her Rondo had left and she had his gun.

"I am extremely fearful for my safety and for the safety of my children," the woman wrote in the EPO. "Rajon has a history of volatile, erratic, explosive behavior ... I am beyond fearful that Rajon will return and attempt to harm myself or the children and make good on his threats to end my life."

Two days after the alleged incident occurred, a judge granted the woman the protective order. The judge ordered Rondo not to communicate and stay at least 500 feet away from her. He was also ordered to surrender his firearms. 

The woman also asked a judge that Rondo seek anger management classes, counseling and a mental health evaluation.

The EPO was dismissed in June 2022 after both parties "reached an agreement," according to court records. 

In March, 2023, another EPO was taken out against Rondo by the same woman. That case ended in an agreed order in August 2023. 

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