The Sixers Could be a Suitor to Wolves Looking to Trade Rubio
By Josh Wilson
In NBA Rumors, the Minnesota Timberwolves are actively shopping Ricky Rubio, and the Philadelphia 76ers could give them exactly what they want.
The Philadelphia 76ers should be active participants in many of the NBA trade rumors out there this year, as they really need to figure out their big man logjam. Aside from that, though, with the Sixers looking to be a winning team in coming years, they will be looking at trades that involve more than just big men.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Minnesota Timberwolves — another rebuilding team — are actively shopping their veteran point guard Ricky Rubio, who the Sixers have a history of interest with.
During the draft last summer that brought the team Ben Simmons and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (as well as Furkan Korkmaz who was stashed overseas) the Sixers seemed to be on the verge of making a deal with the Timberwolves to potentially get their pick and/or Rubio. The deal obviously never ended up going through, but with Rubio back on the trade market, perhaps now the Sixers want to jump on that again.
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According to Woj’s report, the Wolves are looking to trade a package of Rubio and wingman Shabazz Muhammad, who has a decent shot in his arsenal.
As far as what the Wolves want in return, Woj’s report points to the team wanting a bridge guard that can start in the short term but take a backup role later on as their young rookie Kris Dunn becomes ready for the start. The Sacramento Kings reportedly reached out in interest of Rubio but the Wolves weren’t impressed with what they had to offer.
The Sixers, with that in mind, could potentially swap Sergio Rodriguez for Rubio.
Rodriguez is pretty similar to Rubio, except that he’s on a much cheaper deal, something the Wolves may be interested in. With that said, Rodriguez is only on contract for one season, and it looks like the Wolves are looking for someone who is under contract for a few more seasons. With that in mind, the Wolves may only do this deal if they know they’ll have a good shot at re-signing Rodriguez, and at that point they may be paying him more money.
On the Sixers end, they’ll get a guard who is very similar to Rodriguez, and doesn’t score a whole lot, but passes very well. The trouble with that is that doesn’t line up too well with Ben Simmons — a pass-heavy forward — coming back soon, so it might not be the best fit.
The window on the Sixers trading for Rubio may be pretty much closed, but with him still on the market, he’s available if the Sixers want to try to get him.