Ricky Rubio to (Finally) Join Minnesota Timberwolves


At one point, I’m pretty sure that Wolves fans had begun to assume that Ricky Rubio wasn’t even a real person. But, apparently, he is. And he’ll at last put on a Minny uniform! The Star Tribune reports: “A winding, often secretive 23-month saga over whether Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio ever will play for the Timberwolves is over. Rubio on Tuesday signed an NBA contract to play with the team next season, a league source confirmed Wednesday night to the Star Tribune. A news conference introducing him two years after he was drafted will be held when Rubio’s European season ends later this month. Rubio signed May 31, the last day he could secure a contract for next season under the terms of the league’s current labor agreement. By doing so, the 20-year-old potentially guaranteed himself millions of dollars more than if he waited to sign under a new labor agreement, whenever that might come. The current agreement expires July 1 and NBA owners are seeking major financial concessions from players in difficult negotiations that could total hundreds of millions of dollars. Thus ends the team’s pursuit to sign a teenage sensation who seemed reticent to play in cold, snowy Minnesota when the Wolves selected him fifth overall in the 2009 draft. So long was their pursuit that Kevin Love late Wednesday night tweeted this: ‘Ricky Rubio huh? I’ll believe it when I see it.’ Hours after he agreed to play for the Wolves, Rubio and his Regal Barcelona team advanced to the Spanish league finals by sweeping their semifinal series. He scored seven points and had three rebounds and three assists in 18 minutes off the bench, a role he has played throughout the Spanish playoffs because of a foot injury that has since improved.”