Oh No! Ricky Rubio Sends The Timberwolves Home Empty-Handed, Will Announce Trade To Barca Today

Hot off the wires in Spain, Ricky Rubio has made the call after a last-ditch meeting between DKV Joventut and the two clubs pursuing him (fellow Spanish club FC Barcelona and the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves) and Barca wins the little monchichi!

The meeting, between Jordi Villacampa, Joventut president, Dan Fegan, Ricky’s NBA agent, David Khan, Minnesota GM, and Ricky’s father Esteve ended with Rubio tentatively going to Regal Barcelona unless the T’Wolves could make a better offer by 14:00 local time in Spain. That deadline passed a couple of hours ago, and Joventut has called a press conference, set to start about an hour from now, at which they are expected to formally announce Ricky’s transfer.

So what went wrong? The easy answer: money. The Wolves, bound by NBA regulations, could only make a buyout offer of around $500,000. They’d hoped to pad their offer with a big four-year contract and the promise of tens of millions in endorsement deals, but couldn’t make any solid promises. Barca, on the other hand, made a stone-cold salary offer of a million euros, tax free, right off the bat, plus a 3.7 million euro buyout going to Joventut. That converts out to $1.5 million in salary with a $5.28 million buyout. So there you go.

Rubio still has an NBA escape clause in his contract and could ditch for America as early as 2011, but for now the 18-year old point guard is staying put. And for David Khan this is just an utter disaster, after traveling to Spain to lobby Rubio three times over the past two months. Of course, they could wind up with a more seasoned, ready-to-play import in two years, and still have a decade of remarkable output if they play their cards right, but for the time being this stings. Minnesota fans, it seems, are just going to have to get used to putting their faith in Kevin Love or something. Sorry, dudes.

Ricky será hoy del Barça [Sport.es]
Sources: Wolves can’t work buyout [ESPN]