11:28am: Rubio has announced his retirement from the NBA in a statement on social media (Twitter link).
9:31am: Ricky Rubio has reached an agreement on a contract buyout with the Cavaliers, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The move will likely lead to the end of the 33-year-old guard’s playing career, at least in the NBA.
Terms of the buyout haven’t been made available, but Bobby Marks of ESPN notes that Rubio has about $3.5MM left on his $6.15MM contract for this season (Twitter link). Rubio is also owed $6.44MM for 2024/25, but only $4.25MM of next season’s salary is guaranteed.
Rubio and the team began discussing an eventual buyout last month. He hasn’t played this season, announcing in August that he needed to pause his career for mental health reasons. Rubio has remained in his native Spain and there was reportedly little expectation that he was planning to make an NBA return.
Cleveland is $752K below the luxury tax, according to Marks, so any savings from Rubio’s contract will create financial flexibility. The Cavs are already carrying one open roster spot due to tax concerns, and they’re currently shorthanded because of long-term injuries to Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Ty Jerome. Teams can begin signing players to 10-day contracts on Friday, so that may be an option until those players return.
Rubio emerged as a star in Spain as a teenager and was selected by Minnesota with the fifth pick in the 2009 draft. He played for four teams in his 12-year career and averaged 10.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 7.4 assists in 698 total games.
The Cavaliers originally acquired Rubio in the summer of 2021, but a torn ACL ended his season after 34 games and he was sent to Indiana to help match salaries in the Caris LeVert trade. He re-signed with Cleveland in 2022, but was still slowed by the injury and was limited to 33 games last season.
I wish him the best, i remember when he was a rookie so FUN to watch” enjoy your post playing days Ricky
Adios, mi amigo. One of my favorite wolves ever (an impressive list, I know).
Still a good player one of the really solid vets that’s gonna be remembered as one that retired too soon
I hope he’s ok. We don’t know what’s up, but I feel for the guy.
Now Double T can get his #13 back
Funny just about 2 seasons back He was helping lead the Cavaliers return from purgatory season when he tore his ACL. We had such high hopes when that year began. With Sexton, Garland, Mobley and Allen they were ready and winning .When we resigned him we thought the good times were coming back like the beginning of 2021-22.But he never returned at full strength. I wish him well.
Interesting how if you just don’t want to play anymore it’s a breach of contract by not playing, and the team doesn’t have to pay you.
But, if you say “mental health” …..
Retirement is different than “sitting on one’s butt and collecting checks”. You’re thinking of Ben Simmons.
Also helps if, y’know, you aren’t actively beefing with the team at the time.
My point was that if you just quit and not honor your contract, you (theoretically) don’t get paid anymore – even on a guaranteed contract.
You can’t just (hypothetically) sign a guaranteed 6-year deal for (say) $120mil, play the first year and then “retire”, and expect that the team still has to pay you another $100mil.
But, as I mentioned, if you mention “mental health” , that puts a whole different spin on things.
That’s agent work – advising to throw mental health out there. Now you get SOME money.
Not only is that (really rude) base speculation, but it’s untrue? Simmons claimed mental health issues as part of his issues during his holdout and still lost like 85% of his contract that year. Only the part where he was with the Nets, with the clear back injury, did he retain money. Ricky is retiring from basketball. Look up the statement that he made. Very clear he’s going through some personal stuff right now and isn’t in any headspace to play basketball.
Also, as cuffs2 mentioned, Ricky is losing money. That’s why it’s a buyout. Next season’s contract isn’t fully guaranteed to begin with, and he’s likely to lose at least a couple mil from the buyout. He intended on playing and wasn’t able to because of his health. That’s not his fault. If it was a Chris Bosh or Alonzo Mourning-esque physical health problem, nobody would even question it.
The case you have in mind might be the one where the player is sitting out/refusing to play because he wants to get off his team or force a trade. Now if Rubio changes his mind about retiring and signs with, like, Miami 2 months from now, then this whole current situation might get fishy in retrospect, but I think anything like this is highly unlikely to happen. He always seemed like a geniunely good dude, who went through some tough stuff, playing professionally since 14, his mother dying, his ACL tears… so you have to at least give him the benefit of the doubt. Get well soon Ricky.
I’m pretty sure Rubio lost money on the deal. I’m certain they stopped paying him for this year and will pay no more than the guarantee next year. The buyout option was abused by guys like Andre Drummond. That said Kevin Love and Rubio actually gave back guaranteed money. If Rubio hadn’t the Cavaliers couldn’t add any players until after the deadline.
Now cleveland needs a guard.
Tyus Jones to cleveland?
Nah we have CPJ
And Sam Merrill too. Imagine when Garland and Mobley return.
Who said that to you? We have Donovan Mitchell, Max Strus, Caris LeVert, Craig Porter Jr, Sam Merrill and Isaac Okoro. Then on the DL we have Darius Garland and Ty Jerome. What we need are some big men and a tall wing. We even have those guys whenever JB decides their ready. Isaiah Mobley is tearing the G league apart like he did the summer league. To boot Emoni Bates has a higher scoring average than Mobley. He just can’t rebound like Isaiah Mobley, yet. They probably will sign Craig Porter Jr to a standard deal with the added money. Then find someone else to be a 2 way player.
Who did the Timberwolves pass on to take Rubio again?? Two players actually they passed on that would have been franchise changers 10 years sooner!!!
Johnny Flynn was the bad choice…
Rubio and Curry would been an epic back court…
He was such a joy to watch and in his early days was a picture of positivity on a morbid to watch team…