Last night, we may have seen the last of Rudy Gay in a Kings uniform. The 30-year-old combo forward, who is set to hit free agency this off-season and was set to earn one final big contract (likely elsewhere as he has made it known he does not want to return to the Kings), may have a rough off-season in store for him after potentially tearing his Achilles against the Indiana Pacers.
He will undergo an MRI on Thursday and could face six months to a year of rehab and recovery to return from the injury, depending on the severity of the tear. Fellow mid or late career players Kobe Bryant and Wes Matthews suffered from the injury in recent years and each missed at least six months of action and neither appeared to have the level of quickness or athleticism they had prior to the injury.
Here is video of Gay injuring his Achilles:
Rudy Gay may have ruptured his left Achilles on this play, per the Kings' medical staff. pic.twitter.com/LBWyytCr1q
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) January 19, 2017
This injury has come at the worst time for Gay, similar to how it did for Matthews, as his value on the free agent market is going to take a huge hit with the uncertainty of his health moving forward.
Matthews was still able to secure a four-year, $64 million contract from the Mavericks in free agency and it will be interesting to see what the market will be for Gay.
He has averaged 18.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game on 45.5% shooting from the field this season.
