Ricky Rubio Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Rubio, Winslow, Cuba

April 6th, 2015 at 10:29pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio might not play for the Spanish National Team at the European Championships in September, Kent Youngblood of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. Rubio’s NBA season has been marred by a left ankle injury that limited him to 22 games before he was declared out for the season by Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders over the weekend. Rubio is more concerned with being 100% for training camp than the European championships, Youngblood adds. “Of course the priority this summer is my health,” he said to Youngblood. “I haven’t been healthy, and I owe this team a lot. In four years, I have one good season, an 82-game season.”

Duke freshman Justise Winslow is a better NBA prospect than Wisconsin junior Sam Dekker, Chad Ford of ESPN.com opines in a debate with fellow draft expert Kevin Pelton. Ford has Winslow rated No. 6 on his draft board with Dekker also sneaking into the lottery at No. 13. Winslow’s superior athletic ability and high motor make him the better prospect, Ford argues. Pelton feels both players are somewhat overrated but also has Winslow as the better prospect, despite wild swings in his performance over the course of the season.
The NBA is poised to become the first U.S. professional sports league to visit Cuba since President Barack Obama ordered diplomatic relations between the countries to be restored, Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press reports. The league will hold a three-day development camp and host youth clinics in Cuba next month, according to Mahoney. The NBA and FIBA, basketball’s world governing body, will also invite two players and one coach from Cuba to participate in an upcoming Basketball without Borders camp.
Armon Johnson has signed with the Spurs’ D-League affiliate, the Austin Spurs, for the league playoffs, Mike Tokito of The Oregonian tweets. Johnson, a point guard, played a combined 39 games for the Trail Blazers during the 2010/11 and 2011/12 seasons and also appeared in eight games with the Nets during the 2011/12 campaign.

Western Notes: Crawford, Clarkson, Rubio

April 5th, 2015 at 8:58am CST by ChrisCrouse

Jamal Crawford returned to practice with no restrictions and will likely play in Tuesday’s game against the Lakers, Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com reports. Last month it was reported that the reigning Sixth Man of the Year could possibly miss the rest of the season. The 35-year-old has been out since March 2nd with a calf injury and the Clippers have gone 11-5 without him in the lineup.

Here’s more from the Western Conference.

With Jordan Clarkson developing into a potential long-term piece, the Lakers have a good point guard situation even if they can’t land Rajon Rondo, Jabari Davis of Basketball Insiders opines. Earlier in the week, it was reported that the team will likely pursue Rondo as well as Goran Dragic.
Ricky Rubio will miss the remainder of the season because of a sore left ankle that he originally injured on November 7th, Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune reports. Minnesota is only two games behind New York for the worst record in the league, as our Reverse Standings show.
Chip Scoggins of the Star Tribune believes the clock is ticking on Ricky Rubio’s development. The 25-year-old has only played about 65% of the games during his first four seasons because of various injuries and hasn’t shown the consistent improvement that the team expects.

Nets, Kings Discuss Deron Williams Deal

December 30th, 2014 at 11:55am CST by Chuck Myron

DECEMBER 30TH: The Nets also expressed interest in acquiring Nik Stauskas as part of a deal, but the Kings were reluctant to give him up, reports Tim Bontemps of the New York Post.

2:27pm: The talks aren’t completely dead, Broussard cautions in a full story, and a source tells the ESPN scribe that he expects the teams to continue their conversation until the February 19th trade deadline.

DECEMBER 23RD, 10:57am: The conversation between the Kings and Nets is “virtually dead,” since Plumlee, and not Williams, was Sacramento’s primary target and Brooklyn is unwilling to give up Plumlee, reports Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

DECEMBER 20TH, 8:24pm: Talks aren’t ongoing for now, according to Alex Raskin of The Wall Street Journal (Twitter link). The Kings made the initial inquiry, according to Raskin and Devin Kharpertian of The Brooklyn Game (Twitter link). Still, the discussion is liable to pick back up, since the Nets are listening to all offers, Raskin tweets, adding that Brooklyn considers none of its players untradeable, an assertion that would seem to conflict with the other reports indicating that Plumlee is off-limits. Sources “emphatically” told Tim Bontemps of the New York Post that Plumlee isn’t going anywhere, however.

5:49pm: The Nets and Kings are in trade talks about Deron Williams, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who cautions that no deal is imminent. A source confirms the talks to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, who nonetheless hears that the sides aren’t at all close to a deal that this point (Twitter link). The discussion involves Darren Collison, Derrick Williams and Jason Thompson from Sacramento’s side, according to Wojnarowski. The Kings would like for Mason Plumlee to be a part of any transaction, and that’s a stumbling block from the Nets’ perspective, Wojnarowski adds. Plumlee is virtually untouchable as far as Brooklyn is concerned, Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck tweets, and the same is true of Sergey Karasev and Bojan Bogdanovic, as NetsDaily’s Robert Windrem hears (Twitter link). The Kings are high on Collison and hesitant to give him up, but the Nets want to have a point guard to replace Williams should they give him up, as the Yahoo scribe details.

The relationship between Deron Williams and the Nets has chilled over the past two years, and there’s mutual appeal to parting ways, sources tell Wojnarowski. Conversely, Williams and Kings coach Tyrone Corbin have a relationship that’s persisted since their years together in Utah, where Corbin was an assistant coach while Williams played with the Jazz. The Kings are thrilled with Collison so far this season, Wojnarowski writes. Still, they’ve poked around for an upgrade at point guard since signing Collison over the summer, having asked the Timberwolves about Ricky Rubio before Rubio signed his extension with Minnesota in October, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). The Kings maintained interest in Rajon Rondo, though the Celtics’ demands for him were reportedly too high for Sacramento’s liking.

The Nets have had talks about moving Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson of late as they appear ready to make major changes. They also looked into the idea of trading for Lance Stephenson and spoke to Boston about Rondo before he went to the Mavs, according to earlier reports.

Deron Williams’ salary of more than $19.754MM for this season and the two additional years that remain on his contract make him tough to move, especially considering the decline in his performance since he signed the maximum-salary deal as the marquee free agent in the 2012 market. He averaged 20.1 points and 8.7 assists the season before he signed the max contract and is putting up 15.6 PPG and 6.8 APG this season. Those numbers are similar to the 15.6 PPG and 6.1 APG that Collison is putting up for the Kings this year, as Windrem notes (on Twitter). Collison makes about $4.798MM this season, less than Derrick Williams and his salary of more than $6.331MM and Thompson, who’s getting almost $6.038MM.

Northwest Notes: Faried, Pekovic, Nuggets

December 9th, 2014 at 5:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kenneth Faried has had a rough start to the season, something that Nuggets coach Brian Shaw chalks up to inconsistent energy and play on the part of the forward, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. “It’s really hard to say,” Shaw said. “Obviously, he’s disappointed in the way he’s played up to this point. There hasn’t been a level of consistency. One of the things that I try to remind him all the time is what made him, got him to this level, got him paid recently, is the fact that he’s always brought energy and always rebounded the ball. When you look at his stats up to this point, is the energy always there? I wouldn’t say that it consistently has been. But even before that, is he rebounding the ball the way he is known for rebounding the ball? He’s not doing that either. So no matter what happens, you get back to the basics of what got you here. And I think that’s what he has to do.”

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

Shaw also relayed that Faried’s four-year, $50MM extension that the player signed back in October may also be a factor in Faried’s struggles, Dempsey adds. “He’s [Faried] been a little bit beat-up and a little bit sore,” Shaw said. “But what comes when you have the kind of summer that he had, and you get paid for that, there’s a certain responsibility and expectation that go along with that, too. And there’s an adjustment period. Now there’s other guys around the league that maybe think that ‘If I was playing maybe he wouldn’t be on the US team’ or ‘If he’s making this much money, let me show him what I’m worth.’ And that’s all part of it, too. Now, you become the hunted instead of the hunter, and you have to adjust for that and brace for that.“
Wolves center Nikola Pekovic aggravated his injured ankle while running as a part of his rehab and will most likely be out another month, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune reports (Twitter link). Injured point guard Ricky Rubio is also unlikely to make his return to action until January, Zgoda adds.
Pekovic’s coach Flip Saunders hinted at the possibility that the big man could see a stint in the NBA D-League prior to returning to action for the Wolves, Andy Greder of The Saint Paul Pioneer Press reports (Twitter link).

Ricky Rubio Out Up To Eight Weeks

November 8th, 2014 at 2:56pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Wolves have announced that starting point guard Ricky Rubio will be out indefinitely after injuring his ankle during last night’s loss to the Magic in Orlando, and USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt reports that Rubio is likely to miss seven to eight weeks of action. This was after an MRI taken in Miami revealed what was termed a “significant left ankle sprain.” According to Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune, Minnesota will know a more definitive timetable in a couple of weeks once the swelling goes down. The MRI revealed no breaks or tears, which is good news for both the player and his team.

Rubio’s injury is among a rash of early season maladies that have sidelined a number of NBA stars, including Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Bradley Beal, and Marcus Smart, who also injured his ankle last night, but is only expected to miss a couple of weeks.

The 24-year-old Rubio recently inked a four-year, $55MM contract extension with the Wolves, which includes $1MM in incentives. So far this season Rubio has averaged 9.4 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and 10.0 APG. With Minnesota’s roster sitting at the maximum 15 players, it’s likely that Mo Williams will take over starting duties. It is also possible that the team will wait to re-evaluate Rubio in two weeks time prior to making a decision on another roster move, though that is just my speculation.

And-Ones: Wolves, D-League, Cherry

November 2nd, 2014 at 9:23pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Being both the coach and president of basketball operations for the Wolves put Flip Saunders in a unique situation regarding Ricky Rubio‘s extension, writes Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press. “Dealing with the GM, it’s always tough,” Rubio said. “But if you only see him in the office, that’s good. But then you have to see him in the practice, it’s a little tougher. But I think Flip handled the thing very well. He was not different, but when we’re out on the court, we were only talking about basketball. We didn’t talk about business in the practice facility. That helped me to feel comfortable.”

Here’s more from around the league:

The Kings‘ D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, who selected Brady Heslip with their first round pick, were deemed the biggest winner of the D-League draft by Keith Schlosser of SB Nation. Schlosser also notes that Marquis Teague will learn more discipline running the floor by playing for the Thunder-affiliated Oklahoma City Blue.
Will Cherry‘s two year, minimum salary deal with the Cavaliers is partially guaranteed, notes Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group. The exact amount of the guarantee is not yet known.
Though he signed a three-year, $15MM deal with the Kings this offseason, Darren Collison‘s original goal was to return to the Clippers, and the player said that being a starter wasn’t a priority in his decision, Jovan Buha of Fox Sports reports (Twitter links). Collison also said that Sacramento was the first team that contacted him, but that he felt that the club’s priorities were finding a big man and help on the wing, Buha notes.
Collison did admit that there was some miscommunication between him and team president Doc Rivers regarding his level of interest in re-signing with the Clippers, Buha tweets. For his part, Rivers said, “I wanted to keep him [Collison]. I thought he would have been perfect for here forever. But I know math a little bit,” tweets Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times.
Willie Reed, who was recently waived by the Nets, has signed a guaranteed contract for the remainder of the season with Hapoel Eilat of the Israeli league, David Pick of Basketball Insiders reports. The 6’10” Reed averaged 4.0 rebounds in 16.6 minutes in two preseason games for Brooklyn.

Chris Crouse contributed to this post.

Western Notes: Warriors, Thompson, Rubio

November 2nd, 2014 at 11:28am CST by ChrisCrouse

Golden State knows what Klay Thompson means to their team and didn’t want to risk ruining their relationship with the shooting guard by waiting until the offseason to make a reasonable offer, writes Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press. Gonzalez notes that before the $70MM extension was agreed to, players on the Warriors would look at GM Bob Myers, rub their fingers together and say; “Pay the man,” in reference to Thompson. “I’ve never see a team rally around a player so much to get him paid,” Myers said. “It says a lot about Klay and what he means to this franchise.” With the league’s television contract set to expire and the new deal expected to increase the salary cap, the Warriors are expecting Thompson’s performance to exceed the value of this deal.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

Even though negotiations went to the deadline, Myers said giving Thompson a contract extension was an easy decision, according to Diamond Leung of The San Jose Mercury-News. Thompson received a four-year max deal that makes him the first Golden State player signed through the 2018/19 season. “This contract is well deserved, and I think that’s the best compliment I can give Klay,” Myers said, giving a nod to Thompson’s work ethic. “He earned it.”
Wolves owner Glen Taylor’s relationships with Ricky Rubio made the decision to open up his checkbook easier, writes Andy Greder of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “[Taylor’s] a great guy who really stepped up in this situation,” Rubio said. “Me and him talking, just man to man, clears things up.” When Rubio’s extension kicks in, he will be the team’s highest paid player, earning about $14MM per year.
Alec Burks had no intention of leaving Utah and is excited to be part of the Jazz’s bright future, writes Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. “I had him tell the Jazz I wanted to be here. I want to be a part of the future,” Burks said of his discussions with agent Andy Miller. “I see something bright in the future.” Utah and Burks signed an extension worth $42MM over four years, with “reachable” incentives that could bring the value of the deal to $45MM.

Arthur Hill contributed to this post

Wolves Notes: Rubio, Incentives, Taylor

November 1st, 2014 at 10:28am CST by Eddie Scarito

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.

Extension Rumors: Thompson, Cavs, Butler

October 31st, 2014 at 10:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

Tonight’s 11:00pm Central deadline for rookie scale extensions is fast closing in. Here’s the latest on talks around the league, with any additional updates that come in throughout the evening added to the top:

Final-hour talks are taking place between the Cavs and representatives for Tristan Thompson, reports Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal (Twitter link). The team has offered more than $40MM, according to Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio (on Twitter). A deal was a 50-50 proposition as of this afternoon, as Amico heard (Twitter link).
Butler struck a somewhat different tone before the Bulls‘ game against the Cavs tonight than his agent did when he indicated that talks were through (below), as Sam Smith of Bulls.com relays. “We still want a deal,” Butler said. “I still want to be here. I still want to have nothing to worry about. So we have until 11:59 [Eastern time] to figure it out. I’m not a personal guy. I don’t take everything to heart. I understand it’s a business. I just have to be a great basketball player. I think this team is really good, championship caliber. I am a part of this team; I am going to produce. I’m going to guard. I will take care of myself. I think there’s not too much I can do right now. I’m done talking about it.”
Still, Bulls GM Gar Forman said that both sides had agreed to end discussions for now and pick back up again in restricted free agency next summer, Smith notes.
Butler also said that he believes he’ll remain with the Bulls whether it entails signing an extension or a new deal next summer, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.

5:40pm updates:

Butler has rejected the Bulls‘ “final offer” and plans to enter restricted free agency next summer, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports. Butler’s agent, Happy Walters, said, “All the [rookie extension] deals done so far have shown that teams are building around their stars of the future, and they’re compensating those players as such. I was under the impression Jimmy was also viewed as one of those future building blocks with the Bulls. We tried like heck to get something done, but ultimately, the Bulls wanted a ‘hometown’ discount. While understandable, I doubt their GM or coaches give Mr. Reinsdorf a discount when negotiating their own deals.”
Butler had told his teammates that he was willing to play out the season unless the team upped their “final” offer, K.C. Johnson tweets.
The Wolves and Rubio are making progress on a four-year extension, Wojnarowski reports (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski’s sources, there’s optimism, but no deal in place yet.

3:58pm updates:

The Wolves are now willing to go higher than $52MM in four-year offers to Ricky Rubio and the team is on board with a deal as long as Rubio is, reports Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune believes that a deal would have to be for at least $55MM over four seasons (Twitter link).
The Bucks and Brandon Knight weren’t too far apart in extension talks before ending them today, tweets Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com.
Conversely, the gap appears wide between the Bulls and Jimmy Butler, and the chances of a compromise don’t appear to be high, as Goodman also hears (Twitter link). Chicago has been willing to consider a player option in his deal, something the franchise doesn’t ordinarily do, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune (on Twitter), but talks aren’t progressing, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com hears (Twitter link).

Wolves Sign Ricky Rubio To Extension

October 31st, 2014 at 9:28pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Timberwolves have officially signed Ricky Rubio to a contract extension, the team announced (on Twitter). Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports first reported the four-year, $55MM deal, which includes $1MM in incentives, as Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune adds (Twitter link). There are no team or player options in the arrangement, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press (Twitter link).

“We are excited to sign Ricky to a contract extension and keep him as a foundation for years to come,” Timberwolves president of basketball operations/coach Flip Saunders said in the team’s statement. “He is annually among the league leaders in assists and steals, and his intangibles make him a very valuable player to our team. Ricky is only in his fourth season and because of his work ethic and determination, we are confident that he will continue to grow as a player and as a team leader. We look forward to many great years ahead of Ricky in a Timberwolves uniform.”

Agent Dan Fegan had reportedly been seeking the maximum salary for his client, which likely would have been at least $85MM over five years, so the Wolves achieved some level of success in negotiating Rubio’s camp down from that amount. The Wolves had initially talked about four years and $44MM, and upped the offer to $48MM, then to $52MM and beyond for the 24-year-old.

Rubio’s extension matches the average annual salary that fellow point guard Eric Bledsoe netted in his new five-year contract with the Suns, at least with Rubio’s $1MM in incentives factored in, notes Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The dollar figure represents the sort of high-leverage negotiations that had been taking place for a franchise that lost Kevin Love via trade this summer, as Charlie Adams of Hoops Rumors examined when he looked at Rubio’s extension candidacy. The Wolves ultimately saw the prospect of increased revenues from the league’s recent $24 billion TV deal as motivation to come up in their offers, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press, who adds that the team wanted to show faith in the former No. 5 overall pick.

The deal gives Minnesota approximately $50.2MM in guaranteed salary commitments for the 2015/16 season, though that figure doesn’t account for Thaddeus Young‘s $9,971,739, Chase Budinger‘s $5MM, or Corey Brewer‘s $4,905,000 player options.

In his three years in the league, Rubio has averaged 10.2 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 8.1 APG. His slash line is .369/.323/.799.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Chuck Myron contributed to this post.