Ricky Rubio

The Timberwolves then used the 28th pick to select Wayne Ellington, a shooting guard from North Carolina.

The following day, Rubio's father told a Spanish media outlet his son might return to Spain for at least one more season.

Ricard Rubio Vives (born 21 October 1990) is a Spanish professional basketball player for FC Barcelona of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague.

With the 5th pick, Minnesota selected Rubio, making him the first player born in the 1990s to be drafted.

Rubio became the youngest player ever to play in the Spanish ACB League on 15 October 2005, at age 14.

Rubio debuted in the Spanish ACB League in the 2005–06 season with DKV Joventut.

Rubio was the youngest player ever to debut in the ACB, at 14 years and 11 months.

He won the FIBA EuroChallenge championship with Joventut that year.

He made his EuroLeague debut on 24 October 2006, a few days after turning 16, making him one of the youngest players to play in the EuroLeague.

He led the Spanish ACB League in steals during the 2006–07 season.

He also won the Spanish ACB League's Rising Star Award that season.

He made his EuroLeague debut on 24 October 2006, versus Panathinaikos of Athens as Joventut's backup point guard for Elmer Bennett.

He became the fifth-youngest EuroLeague player at the time.

Rubio averaged 2.8 assists per game in his first season of EuroLeague play.

Rubio was also named the FIBA Europe Young Player of the Year in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

He won the EuroCup championship with Joventut in 2008.

He was also voted the Spanish ACB League's best point guard in 2008 and 2010.

DKV Joventut and Rubio's parents agreed not to make him available for interviews until his 18th birthday on 21 October 2008.

The restrictions were ended a few months early once he was selected for the Spain national team that would play at the 2008 Olympics.

Rubio won the 2008 Mr. Europa Award, which was given out yearly by the Italian Superbasket Magazine.

He was named the Defensive Player of the Year for the Spanish ACB League 2008–09 season, and he also led the league in steals that season.

On 25 June 2009, Rubio was drafted with the fifth pick in the first round of the 2009 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, making him the first player born in the 1990s to be drafted by an NBA team.

The Timberwolves had an agreement in principle with his Spanish team, DKV Joventut, to buy out his contract, but Rubio backed out of the deal.

On 31 August 2009, Joventut traded the rights to Rubio to FC Barcelona, and Rubio signed a six-year contract with FC Barcelona the following day.

He won the 2009–10 EuroLeague with FC Barcelona.

Despite his notability, he was carefully shielded.

In 2009, his club Badalona raised the amount of money his contract paid per year from 80,000 euros net income to 300,000 euros net income.

Rubio declared himself eligible for the 2009 NBA draft on 20 April 2009.

Rubio's agent during that time was Dan Fegan.

After the 2009 NBA draft, Rubio played for the FC Barcelona for the next two seasons as agreed upon with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

On 24 June 2009, the Minnesota Timberwolves acquired the fifth pick in the 2009 NBA draft, Etan Thomas, Darius Songaila and Oleksiy Pecherov from the Washington Wizards, in exchange for Randy Foye and Mike Miller.

The Timberwolves had a total of four first-round picks in the 2009 NBA draft.

During that time, he helped the team win the EuroLeague Championship in 2010 and the Liga ACB Championship in 2011.

In 2011, Rubio joined the Timberwolves, and spent six seasons in Minnesota before being traded to the Utah Jazz in June 2017.

They used the 6th and 18th picks in the first round and chose two other point guards, Jonny Flynn from Syracuse and Ty Lawson from North Carolina, surprising many in the NBA.

Lawson's draft rights were soon traded to the Denver Nuggets.

He signed with the Phoenix Suns in July 2019, before returning to Minnesota in 2020.

Rubio was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in August 2021, but was dealt to the Indiana Pacers a month after suffering a season ending ACL injury in December.

In August 2023, Rubio announced he was taking a break from the sport to prioritise his mental health.

On 4 January 2024, Rubio announced that he would be retiring from the NBA.