Rubio agrees to four-year, $55 million extension with Wolves

Point guard Ricky Rubio will lead the Timberwolves into their recently revised future, after he and the team reached agreement Friday evening on a four-year contract extension that will guarantee him at least $55 million.

By approving such a contract, the Wolves are paying Rubio — who turned 24 last month — for the complete player he might become, not the incomplete one he currently is. His new annual $13.75 million salary will start a season from now and make him the team's highest-paid player, above center Nikola Pekovic's $12 million salary.

It also will pay him more than a number of point-guard peers — Stephen Curry, Tony Parker, Mike Conley, Kyle Lowry, Ty Lawson — across the league who currently are superior players.

The only point guards who earn a bigger annual salary are Brooklyn's Deron Williams, Chicago's Derrick Rose, Cleveland's Kyrie Irving, the Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Paul, Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook and Washington's John Wall.

The deal came within three hours of an 11 p.m. deadline that faced players who have rookie contracts that expire after this season. If no agreement had been reached, Rubio would have become a restricted free agent next July.

Rubio can earn another $1 million if he reaches certain incentive clauses. The contract does not include any player or team options.

A sublimely gifted passer and active team defender, Rubio remains a work-in-progress offensively, his jump shot and scoring efficiency perhaps the two things standing between him and stardom. The team last summer hired a shooting coach in good measure to improve Rubio's shooting stroke and his touch on drives to the basket.

By signing Rubio now, the Wolves obligate both sides through the 2018-19 season, three seasons after a new $24 billion television contract arrives in 2016 that is expected to significantly increase the league's salary cap.

A player whom many Wolves fans thought would never play in Minnesota after the team drafted him fifth overall in 2009, Rubio will be 28 years old and finishing his eighth NBA season when his new contract expires. By then, a $13 million-plus contract might look something like pocket change in a league that is expanding its audience globally by the year.

In a statement released by the team Friday night, Wolves president of basketball operations/coach Flip Saunders praised Rubio's "intangibles," work ethic and determination and noted he finished second in the NBA in steals last season and fourth in assists. All of it makes Rubio what Saunders called "a very valuable player to our team."

Rubio in that statement called himself "happy" and "excited" to play in front of Minnesota's "great" fans for many more years after a negotiation process in which he had multiple conversations with owner Glen Taylor. A Target Center news conference is scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

Rubio's new deal makes him the team's highest-paid player at least until Andrew Wiggins, Gorgui Dieng, Anthony Bennett or possibly Zach LaVine become eligible for rookie-contract extensions starting no sooner than 2016.

Rubio's deal essentially is the same first four years of the contract that Phoenix guard Eric Bledsoe signed in September. His is a five-year, $70 million contract that pays him $55 million for the first four seasons. Bledsoe did receive five years from the Suns because he played out the process of becoming a restricted free agent that Rubio avoided.

The Wolves remained adamant they would not pay a max salary at any length of contract throughout negotiations that started with them aiming to sign Rubio to contracts similar to what Golden State's Curry and Denver's Lawson signed in 2012. Lawson agreed to a $48 million extension, Curry to a $44 million deal.

Rubio's extension follows a series of other such extensions for guards across the league. Lowry signed a four-year, $48 million contract with Toronto last summer. In recent weeks, the Suns signed Bledsoe, Charlotte signed Kemba Walker for $48 million, Utah signed Alec Burks for $42 million and on Friday, Golden State paid Klay Thompson a maximum four-year, $70 million extension.