It's official now. Barça has registered Ricky Rubio in the ACB and the Euroleague, so the player is contractually linked to the club until the end of the season. With one day left before the transfer deadline in the Euroleague (closes at 6 p.m. this Wednesday), the Barça team has included the El Masnou point guard in its plans, although the player will not immediately jump to the clues since he is still in the final stretch of recovery from his mental health problems.
Neither Barça nor Ricky want to force his reappearance but on both sides there is a desire for it to become a reality in an indefinite period of time, hence the bureaucratic process of his registration has been completed. Thus, the point guard will return to professional basketball only when he feels completely comfortable. In this way, as long as everything goes well, a long-awaited return would be completed, after the break that the player began in August 2023 due to mental health problems.
The El Masnou point guard tested last week with the Barcelona players in training where he was seen relaxed and focused. Rubio's goal was to take one more step towards his final recovery and see how he reacted with the ball in his hands. It seems, then, that the reunion is bearing fruit, although the Barça club does not want to run or put even more pressure on their backs.
As far as the player's condition is concerned, the six months off the court would not have affected Rubio. Roger Grimau stated after training that the player is "physically fine and fit." Furthermore, according to sources close to Rubio, the point guard had been exercising on his behalf for months, so he still feels like “a bull.”
On January 4, Ricky announced that he was putting an end to his working relationship with the Cavaliers and that he was closing his time in the NBA, thus opening the possibility of a return to the European courts. "My mind went to a dark place," he explained in the statement where he announced his farewell to the NBA, where he has invested twelve years of his life.
