Utah Jazz Land Ricky Rubio In Exchange For First-Round Pick

Ricky Rubio is headed to the Utah Jazz. The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting the Minnesota Timberwolves have shipped the 26-year-old point guard to Utah in exchange for the 2018 first-round pick the Jazz received from the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Enes Kanter trade.

This deal likely means George Hill is headed elsewhere in free agency, and could open the door for Kyle Lowry or another point guard to wind up in Minnesota. The pick the Timberwolves are receiving is lottery-protected in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and if they don’t get it in any of those years, it turns into two second round picks (2020 and 2021).

I'm told Minnesota will be get a 2018 first-round pound to trade Ricky Rubio into Utah cap space. @tribjazz first to report deal happening
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 30, 2017

Rubio is set to make $28.9 million over the next two seasons, and is coming off a solid 2016-17 campaign. He averaged 11.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 9.1 assists and 1.7 steals in 32.9 minutes per game. He also shot a career-best 40.2 percent from the field and had a PER of 16.87.

A player more comfortable in the halfcourt, Rubio should fit in well with Quin Snyder’s style in Utah. The 26-year-old Spaniard has spent his entire six-year NBA career in Minnesota after the Timberwolves selected him with the fifth pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.