Rajon Rondo has been a revelation for the New Orleans Pelicans thus far in the postseason. A recent profile on Rondo from The Ringer suggests a midseason dietary change can be largely credited for the 32-year-old veteran’s second-half turnaround and subsequent standout performance in the playoffs.
The secret? A seemingly miracle milkshake developed by Frank Miller, his personal chef, with the assistance of Mike Guevara, Rondo’s trainer.
“We put our heads together and he told me the foods that he wanted to see on board,” Miller said. “That’s when I developed the halftime shake for Rajon.”
Miller makes the shake before every home game, stores it in a stainless steel water bottle, and takes it to the aptly named Smoothie King Center in downtown New Orleans. There, he hands it to Guevara (who blends the recipe on the road) to be kept cold until consumption. Rondo, who wasn’t made available for this story, drinks about a quarter of it at halftime, and the rest of it postgame.
“Quality protein at halftime, and then recovery protein after the game,” Guevara explained. “Credit to chef Frank, he was was able to engineer something that tastes good, but at the same time, give everything that an athlete would need at halftime and then postgame.”
The numbers don’t lie, either. Rondo turned around his season after buying in on the milkshake routine. And in the playoffs? Rondo seems to have quite a bit left in the tank. The guard is averaging 35.3 minutes per game, over nine minutes more than the regular season. Rondo is averaging more points (12.7 to 8.3), assists (12.7 to 8.2) and rebounds (7.5 to 4.0) in the postseason as well.
Miracle milkshake, indeed.
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