NBA’s Rubio due here on international tour

MANILA, Philippines - The Minnesota Timberwolves’ Ricky Rubio is scheduled to visit the Philippines late this month as part of his two-country tour.

“Happy to announce that I will be on an International Tour this August visiting the Philippines and Dubai,” said Rubio on his Twitter account @rickyrubio9 Friday night.

Rubio, a Spaniard drafted fifth overall by the Wolves in the 2009 NBA draft, will be in the country from Aug. 20 to 23 before going to Dubai from Aug. 24-28 as a special guest of the Basicball Academy Summer Camp there.

“Bucket list: visit Philippines,” Rubio tweeted in his account where he has 1.76 million followers.

Although drafted in 2009, Rubio was only able to play in the NBA in 2011 and has since averaged 10.2 points, 8.2 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.3 steals in 202 games.

Rubio’s legend started when, as a 15-year-old, he dropped a whopping 51 points, 24 rebounds, 12 assists and seven steals to power Spain to a 110-106 overtime victory over Russia in the finals of the FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship nine years back, putting him at level with NBA legend Pete Maravich.

Rubio will be the latest NBA personality to visit the country after former Denver Nuggets coach Brian Shaw, the Milwaukee Bucks’ Khris Middleton and the Utah Jazz Alec Burks.

The Nuggets’ Kenneth “The Manimal” Faried and the San Antonio Spurs’ Danny Green are also expected to visit the country this August as the main attractions of the NBA 3X Philippines 2015 at the SM Mall of Asia.