Ricky Rubio now must deal with the Spanish government if he wants to play in the NBA.
The guard has been trying to get out of his contract with Spanish league team DKV Joventut but has met resistance. On Tuesday, according to the Spanish news agency EFE, Rubio sued the team after learning that it had transferred the rights to his buyout to Hacienda, the Spanish version of the Internal Revenue Service. The rights were sold to satisfy a debt Joventut had with Hacienda.
Leopoldo Hinjos, Rubio's lawyer, claims that the team did not inform his client that his rights were about to be ceded to a third party. The team says that representatives of Hacienda went to Joventut's offices and demanded a guarantee to cover the outstanding debt.
Rubio has challenged the 4.75 million Euro (approximately $6.6 million) buyout, which climbs to 5.75 million Euros after June 30. Rubio made 70,000 Euros last season (about $97,000) and is scheduled to make 125,000 Euros next season (about $175,000). Rubio's father Esteban told ESPN's Chad Nielsen on Monday that the buyout is disproportionate to his salary.
Rubio had refrained from filing a lawsuit and instead had asked an arbitrator to settle the case. The transfer of his buyout to the government appears to have changed that.
Rubio has been projected to go as high as No. 2 in the draft to the Memphis Grizzlies.