New York Knicks NBA Trade Rumors: Knicks Reportedly Interested in Revisiting Ricky Rubio Trade Talks
Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio has often been overlooked because he doesn't light up the scoreboard, but he's actually a pretty good player.
While he's not much of a scorer, Rubio is an excellent playmaker and perimeter defender. With all the intangibles he brings to a basketball team, Timberwolves president/head coach Tom Thibodeau probably wants him to keep him and let him play alongside Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine, right? Well, not exactly.
Observers knew that Rubio's spot in the team was in trouble when Thibodeau drafted Kris Dunn last year. And when word got out that the New York Knicks were interested in a Derrick Rose-for-Rubio swap before the trade deadline, a lot of people thought that he was as good as gone. Unfortunately, the trade didn't happen.
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But according to ESPN's Ian Begley, the Knicks may still be interested in acquiring Rubio.
"Some in the organization were hopeful after the trade deadline that they could revisit their attempts to acquire Rubio from the Minnesota Timberwolves in the offseason, per sources," Begley said in his report.
"It's unclear if that interest remains, but Rubio would fit the mold of a two-way contributor. He is one of the 49 players who had positive real plus-minus ratings on both offense and defense last season," he added.
The team's interest in Rubio is actually a little strange because Rubio isn't exactly a very good shooter. Since the Knicks want to run a triangle offense, his skill sets just don't seem like the right fit for them. But at least the team's defense should get better with him on board.
In any case, the Knicks can't dangle Rose as trade bait again because he's going to be an unrestricted free agent this summer, so they have to come up with another package if they want to acquire Rubio.
