33-year-old point guard Ricky Rubio is leaving the NBA

Spanish player Ricky Rubio is leaving the NBA after 12 years. He has played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers, where he has just agreed to terminate his contract.

Rubio in the NBA

Rubio was drafted in 2009 by the Minnesota Timberwolves as the 5th highest player. However, he didn’t want to rush anything and didn’t leave for the NBA until 2011, where he spent a full six seasons. He averaged 10 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds per game. After his first season, he even finished second in the “rookie of the year” voting behind future Hall of Famer Kyrie Irving.

By his third season, he had already become an indispensable player for the Jazz and was always among the starting lineup. Before he was traded, he left behind 5 triple-doubles and two club records – 19 assists in one game and 177 rebounds in one season. His personal best for points in a single game is 33.

He was traded to Utah after the 2016-17 season. Here he was already coming with a reputation of a hard worker and a player indispensable for every team. In his very first season, he reached a career high of 13.1 points per game. He stayed with the team for two seasons and improved his scoring average to 34 points.

In the last 4 seasons he managed to play one season for the Phoenix Suns. He returned to MInnesota for one season and spent the last two seasons in Cleveland. However, he didn’t do so well anymore. As time went on, his minutes on the floor disappeared and he disappeared from the starting lineup.

Still, it wasn’t a bad career at all, with nearly 700 NBA games and 7,570 points. He reached the triple-double seven times. His best career game came in 2021 in a Cleveland jersey in a win over the New York Knicks. In that game, he scored 37 points and 10 assists.

Representation

He is a two-time European champion in the Spanish national team in 2009 and 2011, and has two bronze medals from this tournament in 2013 and 2107. He also celebrated success at the 2008 Olympic Games, where he won a silver medal and eight years later a bronze.

At the 2019 World Championships, he was awarded the Most Valuable Player of the entire tournament when he led Team Spain to gold medals. Back then, the Spaniards defeated Argentina in the final (95:75) and Rubio scored 20 points. So he has a complete set of medals at the international level.

Source: NBA, Wikipedia