With free agency merely hours away and the Minnesota Timberwolves looking to make a second splash in the span of just over a week, news broke late Friday afternoon that Ricky Rubio was headed west — to the Utah Jazz.
Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune was first on the scene to suggest the deal was close to done.
The deal was the culmination of what felt like eight years of trade rumors, dating back to the second he was picked fifth overall by the Timberwolves in the 2009 NBA Draft.
The final deal is rather simple — Rubio will join the Jazz, while the Timberwolves receive a first-round pick that previously belonged to the Oklahoma City Thunder which is top-14 protected for each of the next three drafts before voiding to second-picks in successive years after that.
It may not seem like a lot for the Wolves to get back, but it opens up some significant cap room for the team to maneuver with heading into free agency, which kicks off at 12:01 a.m. ET Saturday morning. The Wolves cleared the entirety of Rubio’s $14.275 cap hit for next year — and the remaining $28.9 million on his deal via Spotrac — all for the tidy sum of a first-round pick that’ll likely be in the same vicinity in which the team picked Justin Patton from Creighton this year (No. 16 overall) — if not lower.
The Jazz were able to use their cap space with a point guard who’ll fill the void of the departing George Hill — someone to watch for the Wolves and No. 13 on ESPN Insider’s top-30 free agents for this offseason.
Meanwhile, the Wolves reportedly have in the vicinity of $33 million available to spend, with many names being floated such as Kyle Lowry (No. 4 on the ESPN Insider list), Jeff Teague (No. 10), Jrue Holiday (No. 11), Hill, Patty Mills (No. 14) and J.J. Redick (No. 25) — among others like Andre Iguodala, of course. The Wolves will be in search of a guard with the stretch the floor to give Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns more room to operate. That is, one who’ll shoot better than Rubio (40.2 percent last year, 37.5 percent career) both from the inside and the outside (31.5 percent from deep in his career, 30.6 percent last year).
It’ll be worth monitoring if that’ll be one player or perhaps more. Some of the guards listed will be able to fill not only running the point but the shooting void, while others like Reddick would require additional moves.
No matter what happens, make sure to put the coffee on. It could be a wild night.
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