A year ago, on

February 22, 2020

, before the pandemic, confinement and sports without an audience that followed

Covid-19

,

Ricky Rubio

scored

18 points, distributed 11 assists and captured 7 rebounds

in the

Phoenix

victory

Suns

against the

Chicago Bulls

.

It would be the first of four consecutive matches in which the Spanish guard would get 16 or more points and 10 or more assists.

A few days later, on March 8 against the

Milwaukee Bucks

, one of the favorites for the title, he

would make history with a triple-double of 25, 13 and 13

, numbers that had not been seen in the Arizona franchise since the years of

Steve Nash

.

After achieving the

MVP of the 2019 World Cup

, El Masnou's lived his best moment in the NBA.

Twelve months later, everything has changed.

The Suns ended the bubble miniliga unbeaten in Orlando, but decided to change their squad and bet on veteran

Chris Paul instead of Rubio

, who ended up in Minnesota.

The Timberwolves, a young team with stars like

Karl-Anthony Towns and D'Angelo Russell

, had selected

Anthony Edwards

as number one from the last draft and knew Ricky from his first stint in the league.

It wasn't the best destination after playing the playoffs

with the Jazz and having a great year at Phoenix, but it promised.

Nothing is further from reality.

Among the

physical problems

of some players, the absence of Towns due to Covid-19 and the lack of success of

Ryan Saunders

with the rotations, neither Ricky nor the team have been comfortable.

The Spaniard averages the

worst numbers of his career

(7.6 points and 6.4 assists) and the Wolves are the

worst franchise in the league, with 7 wins and 24 losses

.

"I came here to be a leader and I have to do more," acknowledged the Catalan a few weeks ago.

"

We have no identity and we have to find it,

" he explained.

After losing their last game to the Knicks, the team's management decided to fire Saunders and hire

Chris Finch

, until now an assistant with the

Raptors

.

A change that has caught Ricky in full improvement: 14.8 points and 7.2 passes in his last five appearances.

With the team already too many games away from the playoffs, the Wolves will start from scratch with a new coach.

The scratches of his career

At

30

, Finch's arrival marks the beginning of a new path for

Rubio

in the NBA.

One more.

Like his

terrible injury

in that clash with Kobe Bryant in 2012, like the

departure of Kevin Love

, his first great partner, from Minnesota in 2014;

like his

choice for the Utah Jazz

in the free agent market in 2017, like his '

goodbye' to Salt Lake City

in 2019 and his arrival in Phoenix, like the

transfer with which he ended up landing with the Timberwolves

...

The

injuries and the decisions of the managers

of the teams in which he has been have been scratching a solid career in the NBA that does not quite take off.

Ricky is a point guard respected by rivals and coaches

and loved by fans, but he has not finished taking the final step on the road to fighting for the

Playoffs and for the ring

.

His

contract in Minnesota expires in the summer of 2022

, when he will be about to turn 32.

You will have time, but less and less.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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