Report: Timberwolves to trade Ricky Rubio after free agency?

Sean Deveney of Sporting News is reporting that the Timberwolves are likely to see more (and better) offers for Ricky Rubio after the initial free agency rush subsides.

We’re all well aware of the draft night trade rumors from exactly a week ago, and seemingly everyone else in the NBA blogosphere had an opinion on Ricky Rubio’s value and exactly what the Timberwolves should or should not be able to get in return for the Spaniard.

We had our opinion, too, albeit spurred by the ignorance of one Star Tribune columnist who struggles to grasp individual player value in the sport of basketball.

It’s been largely quiet on the trade front over the past week, however, as teams have been gearing up for the free agency frenzy that July 1st brings. The Wolves, for their part, downplayed trade talks and it began to seem plausible, if not likely, that Rubio would be the starting point guard come opening night.

But Sean Deveney of Sporting News feels differently, and posted a piece on Thursday afternoon that suggests that the Wolves may be counting on Rubio’s trade value rising rapidly after the top-heavy point guard free agency class is depleted.

Indeed, after Mike Conley, the options become unattractive rather quickly. Everyone has an opinion of the stat-stuffing Rajon Rondo, of course, and while he’s probably still a starting-caliber point guard, everyone else is more or less a career backup, or at least would be better served as a backup in their next stop.

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Deveney quotes a single NBA general manager as saying that Rubio will be a ‘pretty big target’, and that ‘he won’t be on [Minnesota] for long’.

Here’s the most-interesting excerpt:

"While new Timberwolves president and coach Tom Thibodeau had offers for Rubio before the start of free agency, he staved them off, expecting his value to spike after the first wave of free agents signs on elsewhere. Under the franchise’s previous regime, led by Flip Saunders, Minnesota did much the same thing, hanging on to star forward Kevin Love and driving up his value as the summer of 2014 wore on, eventually getting Andrew Wiggins and Thaddues Young for Love in an August deal.Minnesota also has not ruled out the possibility to hanging on to Rubio and letting him help ease in Dunn before trading him at some point next season. The Celtics did that with Rondo after drafting Marcus Smart in 2014, trading Rondo in December that year."

Deveney then goes on to list the exact teams that KSTP’s Darren Wolfson has been listing as interested in Rubio on some level for more than a year: Dallas, Milwaukee, Houston, and Philadelphia.

But back to the second paragraph of the above excerpt. The idea that the Wolves have “not ruled out the possibility” of having Rubio start at point guard on opening night is…interesting phrasing.

And while I am certainly one who has vehemently defended Rubio’s value to the Timberwolves and value as a player overall over the years and especially of late, there’s certainly a world in which the Wolves could be blown away with a trade offer and could be justified in pulling the trigger.

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Is it a world I want to live in? Admittedly, no. But hey, if they can get requisite value (or, more likely, if they’re sold on the idea of Kris Dunn as the “point guard of the future” and are already married to such an outcome and are willing to accept something close to requisite value), then it makes sense to strike while the iron is hot.

It’s tough to find a match with Dallas or Philadelphia. Milwaukee? Sure, but one of Khris Middleton, Jabari Parker, or Giannis Antetokounmpo would have to be included, and that isn’t happening.

Houston is intriguing if only for the possibility of getting Patrick Beverley and/or a player like Trevor Ariza back. Beverley, while certainly not quite at the level of Ricky Rubio, is absolutely a starting-caliber point guard. He’s a career 37.3 percent three-point shooter who shot 40 percent last season, and is a fantastic on-ball defender.

His length isn’t nearly what Rubio’s is, or Dunn’s for that matter — another reason why it’s so strange that Thibs would be so quick to flip Rubio.

Ariza began to show some age last year and still has two years and north of $15 million on his contract, but he’s a career 35.2 percent three-point shooter who hasn’t shot below 35 percent since 2011-12 in New Orleans.

There could be a straight two-for-one swap here, according to the ESPN Trade Machine, and it would certainly help with roster balance and depth for the Wolves. Again, this probably isn’t quite what Rubio should be worth, but if Thibodeau and Scott Layden are hell-bent on moving him, they could do a lot worse. And we know that Houston is interested.

Next: More On The Ricky Rubio Situation

At any rate, it’s looking like the Timberwolves are still serious about moving Rubio, and potentially even this summer. Right or wrong, stay tuned.