RIcky Rubio has a soft deadline of signing with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday if he doesn't want to deal with whatever might happen following the impending NBA lockout and new Collective Bargaining Agreement implications.
Rubio, the Wolves fifth overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, needs to sign with Minnesota by the close of business on May 31 in order to enter the NBA as a rookie for the 2011-12 season and therefore be guaranteed a $9.4 million contract over the next three years under the NBA's rookie salary scale.
If Rubio doesn't sign on Tuesday, the 20-year-old Spaniard will have to wait until the NBA and its player's association hammers out a new CBA -- that might not allow him to play for as much pay -- before he can sign an NBA contract.
Canis Hoopus has an excellent breakdown of what it all means and additional scenarios, but in the end, Stop-n-Pop seems to believe that president of basketball operations David Kahn needs to finish the deal in the next 12 hours.
David Kahn is all-in on Ricky Rubio. May 31 is the likely drop-dead date for Rubio being a Timberwolf in the 2011/12 season. No excuses. We know that this is a big date. There is no sugar coating him not being signed. It will be a complete and utter failure. There are no likely scenarios where Rubio will be in Minny black should he not sign by May 31. Does David Kahn deserve to keep his job for a single second should we know with about 95% certainty that Rubio will not be here at the start of 2011/12 season? Does he deserve to keep his job for a single second with coaching questions, a terrible draft record, and no Rubio?
Hoopus breaks down all of the possible scenarios that could eventually involve Rubio coming to Minnesota in the future, and the Star Tribune's Jerry Zgoda even chimed in last night after Stop-n-Pop had been on the developing story for weeks, but it seems that there will be quite a few major implications if Kahn doesn't get the Rubio signing down before the end of the month.