Earlier tonight, Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news the Toronto Raptors had traded Rudy Gay to the Sacramento Kings. Gay was pulled from Toronto’s starting lineup tonight at the Staples Center where they were set to take on the Lakers in Kobe Bryant‘s return. Gay is joined by fellow Raptors Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray in the deal, with Greivis Vasquez, Patrick Patterson, John Salmons and Chuck Hayes headed to Toronto.
So far this season, Gay was averaging 19.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, both career highs, but he was shooting a career low 38.8 percent from the field. While Gay is long and athletic enough to get his own shot seemingly anywhere on the court, he’s extremely inefficient from the field, which is a large reason the Grizzlies decided to trade his contract last year after hiring former ESPN NBA analyst John Hollinger, the architect of Player Efficiency Rating (PER).
Reports had already surfaced earlier this season that new Raptors GM Masai Ujiri — himself a proponent of advanced analytics that cast Gay in a poor light — was shopping Gay around the league. Aside from center Jonas Valanciunas, all the Raptors were on the table in order to move Gay’s $17.8 million contract this year off the books and eliminate a possible $19 million player option he was due next season. The move creates a lot of flexibility for Ujiri and the Raptors this summer, and Gay can still play for a possible new long-term deal this summer while with Sacramento or opt-in on that remaining $19 million next season.
Both teams involved in the trade are 5-13 on the year, and don’t figure to be players in the playoffs this season. The Kings unloaded Greivis Vasquez, who had started all 18 games this season for Sacramento and led them in assists in that span (5.3 per game) after coming over from New Orleans as part of the Tyreke Evans sign-and-trade this summer. But the Kings thought Vasquez was expendable with the continued strong play of Isaiah Thomas off the bench, but almost always finishing games for them. Zeke is averaging 17.8 points and 4.9 assists in 27.7 minutes per game.
Rudy Gay is headed to the Kings, league sources tell Yahoo Sports. He has been pulled out of the Raptors lineup for tonight.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) December 9, 2013
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Along with Rudy Gay, Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray will be traded to the Kings too, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) December 9, 2013
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Sacramento will send John Salmons, Vasquez, Patterson and Hayes to the Raptors, sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) December 9, 2013
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Rudy Gay will fly to Sacramento on Monday morning and expected to make his Kings debut on Wednesday against Utah, league source tells Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) December 9, 2013
The rest of the players involved were thrown in to make the contracts work, but the move dramatically rearranges Sacramento’s lineup with Yahoo’s Marc J. Spears reporting that Sacramento will use Gay as a stretch power forward with recently acquired ‘Wolves forward Derrick Williams able to guard either forward spot with DeMarcus Cousins at center.
Kings plan on using Rudy Gay as a stretch power forward & see Gay & Derrick Williams as interchangeable guarding either forward, source says
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) December 9, 2013
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