A season-ending Achilles injury won’t prevent Rudy Gay from opting out of his contract and joining the NBA’s free-agency ranks this summer.
From the Sacramento Bee‘s Jason Jones:
Forward Rudy Gay has informed the Kings he still plans to opt out of the final year of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent this summer, according to league sources who would not speak on the record.
Gay, an 11-year veteran looking to return to a playoff team, would be owed $14,263,566 in the last year of a three-year contract and has until June 10 to officially opt out of his deal.
Gay, who will turn 31 in August, was considered a lock to opt out and leave earlier in the year. But his Achilles injury changed things. He was guaranteed $14.3 million next year, an annual salary he most definitely isn’t matching on the open market at his age.
Given his development as a spot-up marksman, though, he shouldn’t have much trouble finding work that assures him of earning substantially more than $14.3 million over the next two to four years. Almost 20 percent of his shot attempts came as catch-and-shoot treys this season, of which he drilled more than 38 percent. Plug him next to a ball-dominant guard or wing, and he can linger beyond the arc with the intent to make defenses pay for collapsing on drives and pick-and-rolls.
Defense figures to be a problem. Gay was pretty good this year on that end of the floor, but he’ll have trouble keeping pace with small forwards post-recovery. His best bet is selling himself as a small-ball 4. He has the strength to hang with more lumbering power forwards, and his off-the-bounce offense, even after this latest injury, will create mismatches his new digs can exploit.
It’s too early to say where Gay will go, or how much he’ll make. It is, however, safe to say his time in Sacramento has come to an end. He didn’t want to be there when he was healthy, and there’s no way he threw away $14.3 million in guaranteed money just so he could return to endure the Kings’ latest rebuild.
