The Sacramento Kings do not seem like they’ll be moving perennial trade candidates Rudy Gay and Ben McLemore anytime soon. You can even bet on it with the betting odds at SportsBettingExperts.com.
The good news is you can still reach general manager Vlade Divac on the phone. He’s continuing to take calls. As he said on SiriusXM NBA Radio, via HoopsHype:
“You’re going to receive a lot of calls, you’re going to make a lot of calls,” Divac said in an interview on SiriusXM NBA Radio. “We’re very happy with Ben (McLemore), the way he’s progressing this summer. He’s a very young player that we like a lot, so we’re going to keep him.”
What about Gay?
“Rudy is a tremendous talent, he’s somebody that’s beautiful to watch the way he plays,” Divac said. “We think Rudy is a big part of this team to be successful, so we decide to go with him. If he decides to stay next year, that’s great. If he decides to leave, that’s fine. But we want to make sure we compete this year.”
Realistically, it’s only a matter of a time before Divac changes his casual stance. The Kings won’t be competing for a playoff spot this season, and both Gay’s and McLemore’s time in Sacramento appears to be numbered.
Gay is expected to become a free agent next summer, at which point he is then expected to leave. McLemore, meanwhile, is preparing to enter restricted free agency, and with the way his name has meandered in and out of trade rumors over the last year-plus, it would be fairly shocking to see the Kings meet any of the long-term contract offers he’s bound to receive on the semi-open market.
The pressure to move either player, though, won’t present itself until Sacramento dips out of postseason contention. And while that’s inevitable, given the odd, unbalanced state of the roster, it might take until December or later for the Kings to truly start acting like sellers.
