Terance Mann keeps a Rajon Rondo Kentucky basketball card in his wallet at all times

You may know Los Angeles Clippers rotation piece Terance Mann. What you likely don’t know about the 26-year-old guard, though, is that he’s a bit superstitious. And one of his top superstitions involves a former Kentucky basketball star.

Mann was featured on a recent episode of Podcast P with Paul George, a show hosted by the eight-time NBA All-Star with actor Jackie Long and former athlete Dallas Rutherford. And during the interview, the Clippers guard was put on the spot about a rumor going around involving him and Rajon Rondo — or a basketball card of the veteran guard, rather.

“They say you carry with you at all times a Rajon Rondo Kentucky basketball card,” Long asked Mann.

“I’m gonna show you the card,” he responded, immediately pulling out his wallet to reveal a card featuring Rondo during his time at Kentucky. He’s kept the card on him at all times since he was in the seventh grade.

“You know what it is,” Mann said. “You see the dirt on that s***?”

“I’m never taking it out.”

So how is it that a Clipper who played college at Florida State and was born in Brooklyn wind up with a Rondo trading card in his wallet for years? He claims Massachusetts and grew up around the Boston Celtics right around the time Rondo was leading the historic franchise’s backcourt. His fandom led to a birthday gift, which led to a lifelong hooping superstition.

“I just watched him all the time. I’m from Massachusetts, so everybody is talking Celtics this and Celtics that,” Mann said. “And my girlfriend at the time, she got me that for my birthday. She gave me the card and I had an AAU game that weekend. I had like 30 (points) or something, and I had it in my wallet. I was like, ‘I’m never taking it out.'”

The rest was history. To this day, the Rajon Rondo basketball card remains in his back pocket at all times.

Down the road, Mann actually got the chance to suit up alongside Rondo with the Clippers in 2020-21 — an 18-game stint.

“We play with Rondo as a teammate,” George said. “You got to share that moment with him.”

“Crazy. He was excited about it,” Mann said of his interaction with the former Wildcat. “He was like, ‘Damn, that’s crazy.’ I’ve really had it in my wallet since the seventh grade. That s*** needs to be in my wallet at all times.”

A career in the NBA after one 30-point outing playing AAU ball in the seventh grade with a Rondo card in his wallet? Coincidence or not, he’s not going to switch things up now.

“I’m superstitious about things a little bit, with certain things,” Mann said. “And I feel like this is one of the reasons.”

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