Timberwolves, NBA Can’t Afford Ricky Rubio
Written August 10, 2009 by Jack Jones
The NBA should have seen this coming. With the growing popularity of professional basketball overseas, coupled with the current clause in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement which limits player buyouts from outside of the NBA to $500,000, the world’s biggest and richest basketball league may miss out on some of the best non-American players, including this year’s overall number 5 pick in the NBA draft, Ricky Rubio. Boston.com reports that Rubio wants to play in the NBA next season, but that the difference in dollar amounts between playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves or playing for a European league team is too great. Reports are that the Olympiakos of Greece and Real Madrid have both offered Rubio $5 million contracts, and that Regal Barcelona offered him $3.6 million. What would you do?
The current collective bargaining agreement hamstrings NBA teams who want to sign big-name foreign players like Rubio, but the rule was put into place to protect European teams from jacking up their contracts, forcing NBA teams to overpay for players. This is the unfortunate result of that rule, however, it’s not like the Timberwolves weren’t aware of the clause. They took a huge risk by drafting him, knowing he would likely be offered much more than they would be allowed to offer him by those overseas teams. It doesn’t look like a happy ending for Minnesota here. The collective bargaining agreement is unlikely to be changed, as most teams agree that it is a necessary policy. The T-Wolves are trying to work out some kind of sponsorship deal that would empower Rubio to buy himself out of his own contract, but that also seems unlikely.
Even with Rubio, the Timberwolves probably weren’t going to be a team to bet on next season. The NBA odds to win the Finals next year, for example, have Minnesota at +10,000, tied for worst in the league. If you do plan on doing any NBA betting next season, however, be sure you are giving yourself the best possible chance to win by getting expert NBA picks from our top-rated handicappers. When you are looking for winning NBA picks, your clear choice is Betfirms!
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