Wolves Notes: Rubio, Incentives, Taylor

The NBA’s new $24 billion TV deal helped sway Wolves owner Glen Taylor to make a final push to sign Ricky Rubio to an extension, Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press writes. With the salary cap set to increase over the next few seasons, Rubio’s deal won’t seem quite as large in the near future, especially in comparison to the deals that will be inked once the new CBA is ironed out, notes Krawczynski.

Here’s more out of Minnesota:

  • Taylor acknowledged that in the wake of the Kevin Love trade, Rubio would be the player that would lead the team’s young core into the future, Krawczynski adds. “He [Rubio] came to us with such high expectations and he immediately proved why we were so high on him,” Taylor said. “Unfortunately he got hurt at the end of his rookie season, but he has worked so hard to come back and we believe he has a long and successful career ahead of him. He’s a great foundation for our franchise and we’re very happy to keep Ricky here long term to work and grow with the young nucleus that we have.”
  • For his part, Rubio understands the pressure that comes along with signing a large contract, notes Krawczynski. “You’re getting paid more, you have to earn it,” Rubio said. “You have to show why you’re getting paid this money. Of course there’s going to be extra pressure. I wanted to be more of a leader and take this team to another level.”
  • The reported $1MM in incentives contained in Rubio’s extension with the Wolves are tied to several shooting percentage benchmarks, primarily field goal percentage and free throw percentage, Krawczynski tweets. Rubio has a career slash line of .369/.323/.799.
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