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 the Western Conference rankings, the Minnesota Timberwolves are welcoming back a point guard from their recent history.
Former Timberwolves lottery pick, Ricky Rubio, who served the team from 2011-17, has returned to the team through a trade involving the Timberwolves, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the New York Knicks. As part of this trade, Rubio and the Draft rights to Jaden McDaniels (the No. 28 pick in the 2020 Draft) were sent to the Timberwolves from the Thunder. The Draft rights to Leandro Bolmaro (the No. 23 pick in 2020) were also transferred from the Knicks to the Timberwolves.
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
The Minnesota Timberwolves are trading James Johnson, the 2020 Draft rights to Aleksej Pokusevski (No. 17 pick), and a 2024 second-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Timberwolves are also sending the 2017 Draft rights to Mathias Lessort (No. 50 pick) and a 2023 second-round pick from Detroit to the New York Knicks. In return, the Thunder are trading the draft rights to Immanuel Quickley (No. 25 pick, 2020 Draft) to the Knicks. This trade was initially reported after the 2020 Draft, but 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.
