The Rajon Rondo contract extension was sparked by a Sunday afternoon phone conversation between Rondo's agent, Bill Duffy, and president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. And according to Duffy, the deal was completed before the Celtics' 97-87 win over New Orleans at TD Garden and Rondo was told of the deal after his heated altercation with Chris Paul.

The five-year, $55 million deal is completed and all sides appear happy, although Duffy told the Globe that he and Rondo were willing to test restricted free agency had the deal not been done.

"We were pretty adamant about that the whole time," Duffy said Monday afternoon. "All you look for is fairness in a contract. But it's my responsibility to assess the situation with players and obviously this is a perfect situation for Rajon to continue where he started. We don't take that lightly."

The question for Rondo is whether he could have earned more money as a restricted free agent with cap-friendly teams looking for a quality point guard.

"Sure, you go into the free agent market and maybe he could have earned more money," Duffy said. "The grass is always greener on the other side. But I also look at this as his second contract and he'll be in his prime when this contract expires so there's still more ahead. If we were shortsighted, maybe we go to a better situation, perhaps more money. But if it's not the right fit, you'll suffer later."

Rivers said he tried to ease Rondo's tensions over the past few days.

"It wasn't a distraction," he said. "Rondo has been playing terrific and our record indicates that. But I'm a big believer, if you can take care of anybody's stuff, then you eliminate the chance of [distractions] happening. I think he is more mature than his age. He is on the same stage [as Chris Paul]. I don't think he has anything to prove."