Spain's Ricky Rubio reacts during their Basketball World Cup quarter-final game against France in Madrid September 10, 2014.
Spain's Ricky Rubio reacts during their Basketball World Cup quarter-final game against France in Madrid September 10, 2014. REUTERS

It must be a painful summer for Ricky Rubio. The Spaniard just lost Kevin Love, the leader of his team - the Minnesota Timberwolves, to a blockbuster trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers last August. And just last week, his highly favoured home team, Spain was unceremoniously booted out by France in the FIBA World Cup of Basketball.

Just like how he had to endure watching (or not) the Serbia-USA gold medal game Sunday at his home country, he also has to withstand the transition to a new and younger team in the NBA. The assist maestro reveals he is ready to lead the exciting and athletic Timberwolves in the next season.

"The last couple years there have been a lot of questions. It is hard -- even if the team is good -- the media always talks about it. You don't want to think about it, but everyone is always talking about your main guy this way. And it becomes harder to be focused. Right now, we have to play with the players we have," the 23-year-old point guard said per Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.

The Spaniard also spoke at length of his relationship with Love, saying that he was appreciative of the way their former superstar power forward welcomed him into their fold. He reveals that he understands that six years of not even sniffing the playoffs may just have taken its toll on a player of Love's calibre. However, he also mentioned that he never talked personally to the former teammate during the course of the trade talks and trade requests.

And when the trade was finalized in August, what he received was a message of thanks through a text message and he just sent a text back to show his appreciation for the former teammate who gave him much of the heads-up of NBA life. Now, he plans to move on and lead his team and the first step is to reach out to 2014 NBA number one draft pick Andrew Wiggins.

Rubio will also face the prospect of staying longer with the franchise by executing a long term deal, whether it is a maximum salary contract or not, he still would not commit but he states that he is a loyal guy and plans to reward the team that trusted him.

"I'm loyal," Rubio told Yahoo. "I want to give them back what they gave me there: a lot of love."

Watch some of the highlights between Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love during their heyday:

(Video Courtesy of: Youtube/NBAmixes23)