When Ricky Rubio brought the curtain down in 2024 on a 12-season NBA career that had begun in December 2011 with the Minnesota Timberwolves and ended with the Cleveland Cavaliers, it was hard to imagine that he would still be an active professional player in the 2026-27 season. And yet, his recent contract extension with Joventut Badalona means fans will get to enjoy one more season of one of the finest basketball minds of the modern era. That precocious teenager who began astonishing the world long before reaching adulthood, who graced the cover of SLAM alongside Brandon Jennings in 2009, is now also a symbol of the growing visibility of mental health issues among athletes.
Because Rubio’s life has hardly been a walk in the park, despite the fact that, without question, he has been privileged in both social and economic terms. His debut for Joventut Badalona at the age of 14 quickly thrust him into a level of media attention that very few people could withstand, with the entire basketball world, on both sides of the Atlantic, watching him closely. He thrived at the club of his life, on an unforgettable team coached by Aíto García Reneses alongside, among others, Rudy Fernández, winning the Copa del Rey and the ULEB Cup in 2008 —trophies that remain, to this day, the last pieces of silverware lifted by the green-and-black side—. He then spent two seasons with Barça, winning six titles, including the 2010 EuroLeague —also the Catalan club’s latest continental crown— under Xavi Pascual.
After that, the brilliant Catalan point guard headed to the NBA, embarking on a journey defined as much by his talent as by injuries. During his rookie season, he suffered a serious torn ACL in his left knee, a setback that halted his spectacular emergence. Years later, with Cleveland, he suffered another major knee injury in December 2021. The second episode forced him into a lengthy recovery and affected his final two NBA seasons: he appeared in just 34 games in 2021-22 and 33 the following year. In total, he played 698 regular-season games, averaging 10.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 7.4 assists. His NBA career included seven seasons in Minnesota, two with the Utah Jazz, one with the Phoenix Suns and two in Cleveland.
But the end of his time in the United States had a much deeper dimension. Rubio, who lost his mother to cancer in 2016, had struggled with different psychological issues from that point onward, making it difficult for him to keep his focus on basketball, which at times became more of an obstacle than a refuge.
The tipping point came in the summer of 2023, when the point guard was with the Spanish national team preparing for the FIBA World Cup… until he suddenly left the training camp, saying he needed to take care of his mental health. He withdrew from the World Cup —four years earlier, he had been named MVP as Spain won gold in China— and later explained that he had developed chronic stress and needed to step away from competition in order to regain his personal balance. Months later, in January 2024, he announced the end of his NBA career.
His return to Europe was born precisely from that process of rebuilding, with being surrounded by family and returning to his comfort zone playing a key role in Rubio’s recovery. After months away from the court, he returned to Barça in February 2024 to find his rhythm again and rediscover the joy of playing. However, he was a long way from his best, in a season in which Barça failed to win a single trophy. Rubio played 15 games in the Liga Endesa and 13 in the EuroLeague, never really looking capable of controlling games in the way he had in previous years. Perhaps disillusioned by that experience, he stepped away from professional basketball again at the end of the season. In 2024-25, he simply joined an amateur team with his friends in Barcelona’s municipal league. He wanted to have fun playing basketball again… without everything that comes with the demands of professional sport. The collective imagination therefore began to assume that Rubio had played his final professional game.
But that was not the case. One year ago, the Spaniard returned to where it had all started, virtually completing the circle by signing for Joventut. And although, after another lengthy spell away from the game, questions were raised about his physical and competitive level —there was even speculation that he would not play during the opening weeks of the season and would gradually work his way into his team’s rhythm— the reality was quite the opposite. Back in Badalona, Rubio performed at a high level, averaging 13.8 points and 5.1 assists in the Liga Endesa, leading the ‘Penya’ —as Joventut is popularly known— to the semifinals of the Spanish competition. He was also outstanding in the playoffs, both in the quarterfinals against Baskonia and in the semifinals against Valencia Basket, who would eventually go on to win the league title.
With Rubio running the show, Joventut also qualified for the Copa del Rey, although perhaps the biggest disappointment of the season was failing to reach the Basketball Champions League Final Four, which was held in Badalona. It was a clear statement of intent from the Catalan club, which was hoping to lift a trophy again almost two decades after its last one. However, injuries to centers Ante Tomic and Simon Birgander just before the quarterfinal series against AEK Athens severely hampered Dani Miret’s team, leaving them just short of a place in the Final Four on home soil.
Whatever the case, Ricky has rediscovered the joy of playing basketball… to the point that he recently signed that one-year extension with Joventut. After the level he showed this season, nobody dares put an expiration date on him anymore. He has achieved his first objective: finding his way back to basketball in peace.
Now, although he does not talk about it too much, there is a second goal: winning again with Joventut, his great sporting ambition right now, as he admits in petit comité. His first opportunity will come in the Supercopa, which will be played in Badalona on September 19 and 20. Joventut will face Baskonia in one semifinal, with the winner taking on the winner of Valencia Basket-Barça for the title.
In the meantime, the fans have won too. Watching Ricky Rubio play at this level, when many no longer expected him to, is a gift to the eye. More than two decades after his emergence, few players have been able to make the price of a ticket feel as worthwhile as the sensational point guard from El Masnou. Now, it is time to enjoy at least one more sip of his exquisite basketball.
