Ricky Rubio and the Minnesota Timberwolves appear to have reached a contractual impasse.
Minny’s point guard is searching for a max contract extension, because duh. Kevin Love is gone and Rubio, in a way, is now the old head, the primary building block. It’s too early to tell where guys like Zach LaVine, Gorgui Dieng, Anthony Bennett and Shabazz Muhammad fit into all this, Thaddeus Young will be exploring free agency in 2015 or 2016 and Nikola Pekovic isn’t really someone you build around. There’s Andrew Wiggins, sure, but Rubio’s importance to the Timberwolves’ development increased tenfold following the Love trade, giving his agent the necessary ammunition to request a max deal.
Related: It doesn’t look like he’ll get one.
According to the Sporting News’ Sean Deveney, team president and head coach Flip Saunders isn’t dangling a max contract in front of Rubio. It’s more like half a max contract:
Rubio has been after a five-year contract with the Timberwolves, and though he’d like that deal to be a max, there is no doubt Minnesota won’t go that high. In fact, while it has been reported that the two sides are far apart on a number, you can get a sense of just how far — league sources told Sporting News that the Timberwolves’ best offer thus far has been four years in the range of $48 million.
The exact amount Rubio could get with a max deal won’t be known until next year’s salary cap is announced, but as of now, it would shape up to be $85 million over the five years.
Obviously, that is a significant difference. The Timberwolves don’t want to give Rubio a five-year deal because they are only allowed to extend one player on the roster for a contract that long — all others must be four-year deals. With good young talent like this year’s top pick, Andrew Wiggins, on hand, general manager Flip Saunders doesn’t want to tie up his five-year extension in Rubio.
There’s little incentive for the Timberwolves to do anything other than lowball their wily point guard here. Rubio clearly isn’t worth a max contract because of how raw his individual offensive game remains. He can create shots for his teammates, but he’s prone to over-dribbling and is perhaps the most shot-averse point man in the NBA.
Waiting could wind up costing the Timberwolves, to be sure. If the NBA decides to spread out some of the wealth from its new TV deal by increasing next summer’s salary cap and, therefore, max-contract ceilings, Rubio could cost more. But that’s minor when you think about it.
If it comes to the point where the Timberwolves are forced to consider handing Rubio a max deal next summer, it basically means he had a season worth rewarding. It’s easier for Saunders to break open Minny’s piggy bank then rather than now. The latter is a bigger gamble on Rubio and his future.
What Rubio does will be interesting here. Does he sign whatever the Timberwolves are offering, securing his financial future while also emerging as a potential steal in the long run? Or does he roll the dice himself by betting on himself?
The deadline for fourth-year players to sign extensions is Halloween. Crap between now and then is going to get weird. This is one of them here tricky situations, so stay tuned.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com.
