Are the Minnesota Timberwolves going to trade Ricky Rubio? The constantly swirling rumors seem to indicate this will be the case. Rubio is a good player who is still only 25 years old. He plays excellent defense and is a great passer. He also can’t shoot, and if you worry about spacing at all, that can be problematic. When the Timberwolves drafted point guard Kris Dunn in the 2016 NBA Draft, it seemed like the writing was on the wall. If Minnesota do end up trading Rubio, the Sacramento Kings are trying to place themselves at the front of the line to get him.
On ESPN 1500, Darren Wolfson said that Rubio will start the season on the Timberwolves roster. A trade is not imminent. However, he also said that, if Rubio does get traded, the Kings are a team to watch. Of course, the Kings are always a team to watch when it comes to moves, because they are a weird team that makes a ton of deals, many of them headscratchers. This is what also leads to the question of whether or not they have anything to trade for Rubio.
Though Minnesota does have Dunn, that doesn’t mean they’re just going to give Rubio away. They have a lot of veterans the young Timberwolves probably wouldn’t want. Their young players, such as Willie Cauley-Stein and Skal Labissiere, probably wouldn’t be enough. Even if they threw in a draft pick or two, it seems difficult to conjure up a trade that makes sense for the Timberwolves. Well, unless Sacramento was to give up DeMarcus Cousins, which would be nuts. Never count out the Kings when it comes to doing baffling things, but for now simply wanting Rubio isn’t going to be enough to make a trade work.
(Via ESPN 1500; h/t ProBasketballTalk)