Before a game last season, Ricky Rubio had a conversation with his former teammates, Karl-Anthony Towns and Gorgi Dieng.
In their pursuit to climb up the Western Conference, the Minnesota Timberwolves are bringing back a point guard from their recent past.
Ricky Rubio, a past Timberwolves lottery pick who was part of the team between 2011 and 2017, has returned to the team through a trade involving Minnesota, Oklahoma City Thunder, and New York Knicks. In this trade, Rubio and draft rights to Jaden McDaniels (the 28th pick in the 2020 Draft) are moving to the Timberwolves from the Thunder. Additionally, the draft rights to Leandro Bolmaro (the 23rd pick in the 2020 Draft) are also being transferred from the Knicks.
In the trade, the @Timberwolves send James Johnson, the draft rights to Aleksej Pokuševski and a 2024 Second Round Pick to the Thunder and the draft rights to Mathias Lessort and Detroit’s 2023 Second Round Pick to the Knicks
— Timberwolves PR (@Twolves_PR) November 20, 2020
Minnesota is trading forward James Johnson, the draft rights to Aleksej Pokusevski (the 17th pick in the 2020 Draft), and a 2024 second-round pick to the Thunder. The Draft rights to Mathias Lessort (the 50th pick in the 2017 Draft) and Detroit’s 2023 second-round pick are being sent to the Knicks by Minnesota. Meanwhile, the Thunder are sending the Draft rights to Immanuel Quickley (the 25th pick in the 2020 Draft) to New York. The trade, which was reported following the 2020 Draft, was officially confirmed on Friday afternoon.
Rubio was added by the Thunder from the Phoenix Suns in the Chris Paul trade earlier this week. The 30-year-old guard was drafted by the Timberwolves in 2009 and played the first six seasons of his career with the franchise.
During the 2019-20 season with Phoenix, Rubio averaged 13.0 points, 8.8 assists, and 1.4 steals.
In his six seasons with the Wolves, Rubio averaged 10.3 points, 8.5 assists 4.2 rebounds and 2.1 steals in 353 games. One of the team’s more popular players, he was dealt to the Utah Jazz before the 2017-18 season and spent two seasons there. After that, he signed with the Phoenix Suns last season and was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in this offseason’s blockbuster Chris Paul trade.
