Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: More Rubio rumors

The rumors surrounding Ricky Rubio and the possibility that the Timberwolves trade him prior to or during the free agency period have cropped up yet again.

Another day, another fresh batch of Ricky Rubio rumors.

Well, kind of. Stop us if you’ve heard this before: the Timberwolves are “intent on dealing” Rubio. Yep, that’s the extent of it.

It started with ESPN’s Marc Stein stoking the fire on Monday morning with the below tweet and followed it up with this brief story.

Let’s be honest, there isn’t really anything in that tweet that we didn’t already know. Sure, Tom Thibodeau and general manager Scott Layden made the rounds with the Twin Cities media and even went so far as to say that Rubio will be the point guard, and in Layden’s case, said that they think he’ll have a nice “career” with the Timberwolves organization.

But did anyone think that Thibodeau wouldn’t keep anything on the table when it comes to improving the roster? He traded his own hand-picked lottery selection in Kris Dunn, plus one of the main three cogs from the Wolves young core in Zach LaVine. And if the media is to be believed, Rubio has been on the block since the day Thibs took the job last April. (Actually, Rubio’s allegedly been on the block since the day he was drafted in 2009, but who’s counting?)

Alas, the rumor must persist, because the darn Wolves haven’t ponied up their starting point guard for pennies on the dollar.

Associated Press scribe Jon Krawczynski concurred with Stein assessment that the Wolves are indeed still open to trading Rubio, but seems to disagree that they’re “intent” on moving the Spaniard.

As Brian and myself talked about in Monday’s Dunking With Wolves Podcast, Rubio is surely available at the right price; other than Karl-Anthony Towns and Jimmy Butler, who isn’t? And any Rubio move would only be consummated after Thibodeau is certain that he can land a suitable replacement, likely via free agency. It could be Jeff Teague, George Hill, or Jrue Holiday, or he could shoot for the stars with Kyle Lowry. But he’ll have to have someone to take Rubio’s place before he hauls off and leaves Tyus Jones as the only player at the ‘one’ on the roster.

For this reason, it seems highly unlikely that Rubio would be moved before July 1, so it gives us a few more days to prepare ourselves. In the meantime, the Wolves officially waived Jordan Hill, saving about $4.1 million in cap space prior to the opening of free agency.

Outside of Rubio, Cole Aldrich is the only other player with significant salary that would be an option to dump via trade, so it sure seems as though the Wolves will enter free agency with around $19 million to spend.

Next: Podcast: On The Jimmy Butler Trade

We’ll be on top of any additional rumors (meaningful or not-so-much) throughout the week, so please keep your internet dials tuned to Dunking With Wolves.