Ricky Rubio Shut Down for Remainder of the Season

The (16-60) Minnesota Timberwolves will not have Ricky Rubio in uniform for the regular season’s final six games, according to head coach and team president Flip Saunders.

Rubio, currently out with a sore and surgically-repaired left ankle, only played in a career-low 22 games this season.

The 24-year old point guard inked a four-year, $56 million extension with the Timberwolves in November.

Per the Pioneer Press:

Wolves president of basketball operations and coach Flip Saunders said Saturday that Rubio will sit the remaining six games this season.

 

“There’s no use in him playing,” Saunders said, according to Fox Sports North. “We thought with what we were doing (in his rehab) that he’d get relief, and he’s not getting relief. So we want to make sure that there’s nothing else that’s happening in there.”

 

Saunders said Rubio was on the verge or returning for about the past week, but the medical staff was holding him back. […] “We said when it happened that it was a bad ankle sprain,” Saunders said to FSN. “I don’t think anyone expected it was going to take the turn that it took. … Our (trainers) are trying some different things to see if they can get him pain-free. And if they can’t, if not, they’ll have to look at what else they can do.”