Rubio leaves team for good

GERONA, Spain – Ricky Rubio plans to part ways with Spanish club DKV Joventut even if the Minnesota Timberwolves cannot reach a deal to bring their first-round draft pick to the NBA.

Timberwolves president David Kahn was in Spain this week to try and help the fifth overall pick negotiate a buyout of his contract with Joventut. Rubio is at odds with his boyhood club over a buyout clause that could cost the 18-year-old point guard as much as $6.6 million. The NBA’s collective bargaining rules limit the Timberwolves’ contribution to $500,000.

Regardless of whether Rubio makes the trip across the Atlantic next season, he won’t be playing at Joventut.

“I want to continue with the club but, after everything that’s happened, I don’t think they’re too comfortable having me in their squad,” Rubio said on Wednesday. “I want to play in a winning team, on a team that can achieve many things.”

Rubio signed with Joventut at 14 years old, becoming the youngest player ever to play in a Spanish ACB League game. He rose to prominence over the next few years, playing for Spain’s silver medal-winning team in the Beijing Olympics at 17 and becoming a popular player thanks to his flashy passes and floppy hair.

Minnesota drafted him fifth overall in June and holds his NBA rights for as long as Rubio is playing basketball professionally. But it is not exactly clear what ramifications, if any, Rubio’s parting with Joventut has on the Timberwolves’ chances of bringing the popular point guard to the United States this season.

Rubio has two years remaining on his deal with Joventut.

The enormity of the buyout has a player who made less than $100,000 last season thinking twice about coming to the NBA right away.

That’s what prompted Kahn to fly to Spain on Monday. He met with Joventut officials to see if he could help resolve the issue, but declined to comment – both on the news that Rubio will leave Joventut and the trip in general – when reached by The Associated Press on Wednesday. (AP)