Regrading Cavs’ trade for Ricky Rubio: Final Grade
Was Rubio worth his salary and what the Cavs gave up to bring him on board? When he played, the answer was a resouding yes. From his actual play to the way he unlocked the best in the Cavs around him, Rubio was the very peak of what the Cavs could have expected from a backup point guard.
Yet Rubio came in with a long history of injuries, so while his ACL tear was horrible and technically unpredictable, his track record suggested even at the time of the trade last summer that injuries would be a part of his story. I even wrote a few games before the injury that the Cavs might want to trade Rubio while he was playing well before another injury struck.
In the end the Cavs sent a useful veteran forward in Taurean Prince and what became the 40th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft for just 34 games of high-level point guard play and then the salary needed to trade for Caris LeVert, a move that may be a long-term negative for the team. That’s not a lot of return.
Yet those 34 games were of vital importance for a franchise learning how to win with this group for the first time. Rubio’s presence on-and-off the court seems to have been critical to helping Cleveland get off to a good start and think of itself as something more than a tanking team. His 34 games seem to have been more valuable than most in helping the Cavs then and moving forward. It’s hard to quantify, but it was ultimately probably worth what the Cavs gave up.
Final Re-grade: B
The Cavs could entertain bringing Ricky Rubio back next season or beyond, the relationship already established and valued. Rubio’s time in Cleveland was an absolute success, and thus the trade to bring him to the Cavs in the first place has to be viewed as a positive overall, if not a resounding one.