Spanish star likely facing the end of his NBA playing career

Ricky Rubio has reached an agreement on a contract buyout with the Cavaliers, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The move will likely lead to the end of the 33-year-old guard’s playing career, at least in the NBA.

Terms of the buyout haven’t been made available, but Bobby Marks of ESPN notes that Rubio has $3.5M left on his $6.15M contract for this season (Twitter link). Rubio is also owed $6.44M for 2024/25, but only $4.25M of next season’s salary is guaranteed.

Rubio and the team began discussing an eventual buyout last month. He hasn’t played this season, announcing in August that he needed to pause his career for mental health reasons. Rubio has remained in his native Spain and there was reportedly little expectation that he was planning to make an NBA return.

Cleveland is $752K below the luxury tax, according to Marks, so any savings from Rubio’s contract will create financial flexibility. The Cavs are already carrying one open roster spot due to tax concerns, and they’re currently short-handed because of long-term injuries to Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Ty Jerome. Teams can begin signing players to 10-day contracts on Friday, so that may be an option until those players return.

Rubio emerged as a star in Spain as a teenager and was selected by Minnesota with the fifth pick in the 2009 draft. He played for four teams in his 12-year career and averaged 10.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 7.4 assists in 698 games.

The Cavaliers originally acquired Rubio in the summer of 2021, but a torn ACL ended his season after 34 games and he was sent to Indiana to help match salaries in the Caris LeVert trade. He re-signed with Cleveland in 2022, but was still slowed by the injury and was limited to 33 games last season.