Rudy Gay and the Oklahoma City Thunder have been linked to another since before the start of the 2016-17 season.
Oklahoma City lost Kevin Durant over the summer and needs another scorer who can also get buckets from three-point range off the catch to pair with Russell Westbrook. Gay has a player option for next season and, per multiple reports, has no desire to remain with the Sacramento Kings.
It’s a perfect match.
Only, with the Kings chasing a playoff berth, the Thunder need to piece together an offer that’s more enticing than typical throwaway packages for half-season rentals. That’s not general manager Sam Presti’s style.
Backup point guard Cameron Payne, who is recovering from a Jones fracture, is probably the Thunder’s best young asset when you consider Andre Roberson is speeding toward restricted free agency. And would Oklahoma City really include him in a deal for Gay, who will either leave after this season or cost a crap ton to retain?
Apparently yes, according to The Vertical’s Chris Mannix:
And that’s to be expected. The Thunder lost Kevin freaking Durant. You don’t simply slide someone else into that slot. The dearth of perimeter shooting caused by Durant’s defection has been a killer. Andre Roberson (29.5 percent from 3-point range) has been awful. Victor Oladipo (38.1 percent) is solid, while Domantas Sabonis isn’t shooting enough to be a real threat. That’s boxed in Steven Adams in the post and is why OKC continues to pursue the Kings’ Rudy Gay, with injured guard Cameron Payne the carrot.
This is kind of surprising to me. The Thunder have Westbrook, but Payne is the perfect second-unit spark plug. It seems like he could, when healthy, and in due time, help the team land a better return.
Then again, Victor Oladipo is locked up long term, and the Thunder’s chances of keeping Westbrook beyond his current deal skyrocketed with the implementation of the Designated Player Exception in the latest collective bargaining agreement.
Payne can easily be viewed as expendable, and the Kings don’t have their point guard of the future on the roster. If the Thunder waive their trade exception, they can send Anthony Morrow and Payne to Sacramento in exchange for Gay. That’s a deal both parties can justify.
That said, the longer the Kings have hold of the West’s final playoff seed, the less likely they are to auction off Gay for less than a monster return. The Thunder may need to add more to the framework we just mentioned, at which point such a deal jut wouldn’t be worth the trouble.
In other words, stay tuned. This isn’t the last time Gay and the Thunder will be tied to each other.
