DKV Joventut Declines Rubio's Offer

We have got word that DKV Joventut, the team that holds Ricky Rubio under contract, will not negotiate with the point guard until he withdraws his lawsuit for an arbitration hearing on his salary.  The lawsuit is based off the money differential between his salary (under $100,000) and buy-out (reportedly $6.7 million or more) cost.

As we reported yesterday, Rubio’s attorneys offered just over three million for the release of his contract.  According to a source close with the situation, the board of directors for DKV Joventut rejected the offer and stated they would not negotiate unless he withdraws his claim for arbitration.  The Spanish team would not even state whether or not the offer is enough.

Rubio has two years left in his contract with DKV Joventut, and the team will not deny him the right to complete it.  Apparently, they would not consider negotiating out of the contract until the legal issues are settled.

The argument for his team is that they do not want a ongoing legal battle, even if they agree on a buy-out agreement now.  The board of directors are worried that even after an agreement with Rubio and his attorneys, if Rubio’s side wins their arbitration hearing, the buy-put portion of his contract deal could be nullified.

If his buy-out portion of his contract is nullified, Rubio would not need to pay any buy-out to get out of his contract and any previous agreement to lower the buy-out cost could be then returned to Rubio.

The team and their board or directors would like for Rubio and his attorneys to completely withdraw their lawsuit claim, and then the team would negotiate with a stipulation in their agreement that they would not pursue another legal suit against DKV Joventut.

It looks as if DKV Joventut is willing to negotiate, but they don’t want to lose out on gaining large cash for it.  The amount for a buy-out can be agreed on, its whether or not Rubio’s attorneys would continue to pursue an arbitration hearing.

To me, it sounds like Rubio’s representation have a valid argument, although I really don’t know how Spain’s government works.

Nam Huynh writes for Minnesota Sports Zone (http://www.mn-sz.com)