Alot of great points by everyone on the matter. But this boils down to a business move by Rubio and his agent, period. By signing with the Knicks his buyout clause would not be an issue since he would receive plenty of marketing opportunities in the Big Apple. This has nothing to do with basketball at the moment, since Rubio is highly underpaid in Spain he wants the biggest market to help his buyout and increase his current contract. His value right now is at an all time high and his agent, his family, himself want to get this done, a trade to New York.
Someone suggested that Portland can give more and that thoughts of Rubio in NY aren't true. Well, do you think the Blazers would give up on their core pieces for a player that wouldn't come to the US for the next 2-3 years. Common on now, Portland is one of the best franchises in the NBA right now and they know how to build a team. It is Rubio to Spain or New York, that's it!
I agree. I also don't think that Kahn is an idiot as others have suggested. When Rubio fell into his lap at #5, he recognized that by selecting and trading Rubio, he could get higher than normal trade value for him (as though he were a #2 or #3 pick, not a #5...). He knows Rubio won't play for Minny, but he also knows Walsh, and they can work something out.
Kahn knows that he needs to turn Minny around because
they were putrid last year. The economy sucks, and the T-Wolves better win this year if they want their share of the Minnesota sports entertainment dollar.
Kahn gave up Miller and Foye for the #5 pick, so he needs to replace those guys with proven young players
who can contribute immediately and help turn things around over there. They are not far enough under the cap to sign impact free agents, so how else can he get those kinds of players?
I believe that it's always been NY or Spain from Rubio's view, because from a PR perspective, he has the perfect excuse for refusing to come to the NBA right now (buyout). That actually gives him leverage. Add in the fact that he's only 18, which means that he can wait 3 years and still only be 21 years old etc...
This deal can get done, and Kahn and Walsh can both come out of it smelling like Roses... If Kahn were to add DLee and Nate to his team, he would be adding two young, highly regarded free agents to his team. He wouldn't be able to sign them otherwise.
As far as the notion of them not wanting DLee just because they already have two quality bigs... I don't believe that. DLee would give them a 3rd quality big and don't forget that Kahn intimately knows the Pacer teams that were successful with 3 quality big guys (Rik Smits, Antonio Davis and Dale Davis).
A possible trade could be:
DLee and Nate (Sign-and-Trade, Base Year Compensation...) for Rubio's rights and one of their overpaid scrubs (probably Cardinal).
We'll see what (if anything) happens...