With the Celtics hovering around .500 heading into March, they have been engulfed in trade rumors involving a number of their marquee players. Rajon Rondo has been the most common centerpiece of speculation, but Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce haven’t avoided being mentioned as well.

Rondo has been included in a number of rumored proposals recently, one of which had him going to the Lakers for Pau Gasol. It surfaced earlier this week that Boston was “shopping” him to other clubs.

Doc Rivers sounded off on Friday night, admitting frustration over how trade rumors gain momentum in the NBA.

“I don’t mind any rumors that are true,” said Rivers. “I do get upset when they are not true. In my opinion, sometimes news is created and then people report on the news that they created. When that happens, I’m not too happy with it. With the Gasol case, that’s two already this year, I haven’t been real happy because there’s no truth to that. The Gasol rumor was crazy. That was just ridiculous. I don’t even know where it came from. When that kind of stuff happens it bothers me because it’s being created by somebody outside and you can’t do anything about it.”

Rivers realizes rumors will spread, especially around this time, which he refers to as “Silly Season,” but rumors of Rondo’s supposed lack of a future with Boston have spiraled out of control.

“The shopping rumors, those bothered me.”

The Rondo talks have sparked speculation that Rondo is frustrated and that his relationship with Rivers has soured. The coach squashed the notion of any issues.

“For anybody outside of the locker room, it’s easy to say there are issues. Everybody has issues, but to me it’s called ‘human relationships.’ You’re probably going to have some issues sometimes, it’s never going to be just vanilla,” said Rivers.

Shortly after the story broke on Tuesday that the Celtics were shopping Rondo, he exploded for a triple-double in a win over the Bucks.

“If anything, I hope he gets angry,” Rivers said of Rondo. “But I don’t think it’s done anything, I think it’s happened too many times to him and Ray [Allen], like two years in a row.”

When asked about a rumored proposal of Kevin Garnett for Josh Smith of the Hawks, Rivers laughed and said: “I’m going to put it like this, this is the first time I’ve heard it.”

Rivers added that the rumors that pop up around the trade deadline are more troublesome this season because of the condensed schedule. What may have only bothered a team for three or four games over a week or 10 days might bridge seven or eight games this year.