Ramon Sessions, with 96 NBA games under his belt, and rookie Jonny Flynn will be the Timberwolves' primary point guards for the 2009-10 season. That news comes courtesy of the Milwaukee Bucks, who declined on Friday to match the four-year, $16.4 million contract offer the Wolves extended last week to Sessions, a restricted free agent.
Sessions, 23, averaged 12.4 points and 5.7 assists last year for the Bucks. He had spent the entire summer waiting for a contract offer that never came, despite reported strong interest from at least a couple of teams, the Los Angeles Clippers and New York Knicks.
But then David Kahn, the Timberwolves' president, struck out in his quest to convince No. 5 pick Ricky Rubio to leave Spain for the NBA. After the Wolves reached a buyout agreement with his Spanish team a little more than a week ago, Rubio backed out, opting to stay and play closer to home, at least for the next two years.
That opened the door for the Wolves' offer to Sessions, who snapped it up after a summer of waiting. He joins a young and rebuilding team in Minnesota.
"[It's] basically a dream come true," Sessions said from Miami in a phone interview with the Sun News of Myrtle Beach, S.C. "I was losing sleep over it early on. Minnesota is a great organization. I'm excited about the opportunity."
Kahn said Sessions fits into the development plan he has for the Wolves.
"We're thrilled to welcome Ramon to the Timberwolves," Kahn said. "Ramon has already demonstrated the ability to play significant minutes at the NBA level, yet is only 23. We believe, like our team, his best days are ahead of him."
Sessions' agent, James (Chubby) Wells, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Sessions would have been happy to stay or go. "I think Milwaukee wanted to move on with their salary structure," Wells said. "It wouldn't have been a problem to go back to Milwaukee.
"I think we're happy and they're happy."
