Ricky Rubio continues to be hesitant about his future on the courts. The 33-year-old from El Masnou finished last season at Barcelona, where he arrived before spring but He was unable to have the dream reunion with the team with which he won the Euroleague before leaving for the NBA. Barça ended the season with a terrible feeling, a situation that cost Roger Grimau his job and has led to a profound change in the rotation for this new season. Ricky, individually, also did not find the ideal sensations and was not able to have the impact that he would have had if he had reached an optimal level.
He did not even participate in the Paris Games, which was initially one of his goals when he decided to return to Europe. And now there is no news about what he is going to do, with the start of the 2024-25 season getting closer.. After it was confirmed that he would not continue at Barça, nothing. There have been strong rumors of a possible last dance with Joventut, the club where he was trained and with which he made his debut in the ACB League at just 14 years old. But he himself assured that nothing had been finalised. And retirement, obviously in his case, is another feasible option.
Meanwhile, Ricky Rubio’s name continues to appear in the accounts of his last NBA team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. In fact, the Ohio franchise has made historyat least under the microscope of the scholars of office engineering and adjustments to collective agreements, with the Spanish base contract, the first with which a formula is executed that did not exist until the entry into force of the last collective agreement, the delayed stretch. The Cavaliers had, for this 2024-25 season, in their payroll 1.27 million dollars corresponding to what they agreed with Ricky when his contract was broken after a bilateral negotiation, on January 4. Now, with this formula, they can divide that sum into three seasons, so the dead money that they will carry over from Ricky’s last contract will only be a little over $400,000 in each of them.
Until 2023, the option to prorate the amount that is added to the accounts what is paid in the buyouts (the contract termination agreements) existed, but only at the time when the operation was closed. From then on, the fixed amounts had to be adhered to. The new agreement allows this. delayed split, a fine-tuning adjustment but one that could be important for the Cavs… and for any team that winscurre is the edge. The new agreement introduces very harsh limitations and punishments when different limits are exceeded above the salary cap. Sometimes, a residual movement like this is the difference between being able to make a (low-profile) signing or avoiding a large sum in fines. The Cavs are moving on the edge of the luxury tax, depending on what happens with the future of forward Isaac Okoro (they are above if his salary cap is counted). qualifying offer), so they gain some margin for now, even if it is minimal.
This, in any case, is a move that affects the Cavs and the mark that the agreement with Ricky leaves on their balance sheet. The player already received the agreed amounts when he chose to leave the NBA after a few months in which he had not been with the team. to take care of his mental health, the stop he decided to take before the 2023 World Cup. He had signed a three-year, $18.4 million contract with the Cavaliers in 2022. Last season, his salary was $6.1 million, and for this season he had, in principle, $4.2 million fully guaranteed (and a cap hit for the Cavs of $6.4 million). In January, when the deal was finalized and Ricky was released from his contract, he was still owed $3.5 million for that season and at least $4.2 million for the next. Some 7.7 million of which, in principle and according to information coming from Cleveland, he forgave 5.4 to avoid continuing to be linked to a franchise that thus allowed itself the financial breathing room that came with releasing a contract that it was unable to use due to Ricky’s extra-sporting problems.
In this way, Ricky took home about $2.35 million when he closed the deal. According to the Cavs’ official accounts, the ones that matter for luxury tax purposes, the figure on his contract last season ended up at $3.7 million, and was $1.27 million for this season. That’s the figure that has now been extended to run through 2027.
Ricky arrived at the Cavs in 2021, after a trance of transfers and movements that made him see the worst of the NBA business. When fatigue was already setting in, he publicly acknowledged that he was considering returning to Europefound in Cleveland, against many predictions, a place where he regained his enthusiasm and connection with the NBA. A veteran in a young and rising team, and in full form after being the leader of the National Team in the 2019 World Cup (champion and MVP) and the Tokyo Games, He played at an excellent level (13.1 points, 4 rebounds, 6.6 assists)… but only for 34 games. A serious knee injury (December 28, 2021) changed everything. In February, injured, he was traded to the Pacers. The Cavs wanted flexibility and stayed with Ricky in talk. The Spaniard exhausted his contract, recovering from injury, in Indiana (where he obviously did not debut) and in July he signed the three-year agreement to return to the Cavs, proof that his departure had been on the best terms.
He returned to play six months after signing that new contract, in January 2023, but In 33 games he did not recover his best level (5.2 points, 3.5 assists)out of rhythm after his long convalescence and with problems finding a role similar to the one he had in his previous stint with the Cavs. In the summer, the road to death came to a halt, he withdrew from the World Cup. And he never played in the NBA again. His team respected his wish not to start last season and he ended up agreeing to that buyout who are now continuing to adjust their salary accounts and who closed the more than 130 million dollars that Ricky has earned (2011-2023) in contracts with NBA franchises, a stage that included an extension of rookie contract (2014) of 55 million for four years with the Timberwolves and a free agent contract with the Phoenix Suns (2019) for three years and 51 million.
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