Will Rudy Gay be a member of the Sacramento Kings after the February’s trade deadline?
That’s the question almost everyone is asking, mostly because we know he won’t be with the team next season. He has a player option for 2017-18 that he’s going to decline, and it’s been clear, to both the Kings and the basketball community at large, that he’s bolting Sacramento the first chance he gets.
With Gay playing well, checking in as an above-average contributor on both sides of the floor, conventional wisdom dictates the Kings cut the cord. Why stand pat and lose him for nothing over the offseason when you can capitalize on his value now?
Because, apparently, Sacramento remains obsessed with securing a playoff berth, per the Sacramento Bee‘s Jason Jones:
Any success the Kings have without Gay will only spark more speculation about trades. Gay will opt out of his contract at the end of the season to become an unrestricted free agent.
With the Kings looking at losing him in the offseason with no compensation, there have already been plenty of rumors about whether dealing Gay would be the right decision, regardless of the where the Kings are in the standings.
The Kings have been reluctant to deal Gay for the sake of a deal. Also, even though the Kings have played well recently, only two of the four victories were against teams with winning records (Utah, Memphis).
The Kings haven’t clinched a postseason berth since 2006, so by their own standards, this makes sense. They are clinging to the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spots, and with the Portland Trail Blazers plummeting, there’s a good chance they’ll make it to the NBA’s spring dance.
From their perspective, as a team that’s hoping to show DeMarcus Cousins it’s on the right track ahead of his free agency in 2018, tinkering with a fringe-playoff core is dangerous. That’s especially true when the return on Gay may not be huge.
Everyone around the league knows he’s leaving. General managers will also have reserves about forfeiting assets for an over-30 scorer who’s due a lucrative payday in a few months time. So unless the Kings fall out of the playoff picture before February’s deadline or start playing exceptionally well without Gay, it might be safer to assume he finishes the season in Sactown.
