It's not completely out of the question that Gay will say "Thanks, but no thanks" to the final year of his contract, but the chances are remarkably slim.
But if they've got any sense of what people around the league are saying, they'll collect every cent of that final $19 million before hitting unrestricted free agency in 2015. Gay and his agent might be hoping for a sweetheart deal. So, whatever hope the Kings might have that Gay would forgo the final $19 million on his contract rests on the unlikely proposition that there's a team out there willing to fork over big dollars on a long-term deal. The rise of advanced stats has all but destroyed his reputation as a useful NBA player. The problem is that Gay is now among the least valued players in the league. There's a faint glimmer of hope for the Kings here: If Gay opts out of the final year of his deal this summer, Sacramento will have cleared a ton of salary without giving up any potential long-term cornerstones. The ball should move more freely without Gay around, and Toronto's promising center is going to be the biggest beneficiary of that change. The Raptors have a potential All-Star in the 21-year-old Lithuanian, and now he's finally going to get a chance to do more than collect scraps around the rim. And who knows, DeRozan might even scale back his questionable shot selection now that he knows he won't have to wrestle Gay for possessions. But the shooting guard is nowhere near as big of an offense killer as Gay was.
Jonas Valanciunas knows that better than anyone.īut now that Gay's gone, he might soon know what it feels like to be part of a functional offense.ĭon't get me wrong, the Raptors still have DeMar DeRozan and his own bothersome penchant for low-percentage jumpers. It's pretty hard to develop as a big man when your teammates spend so many offensive possessions pounding the dribble for 20 seconds before hoisting a contested jumper. If there's one takeaway from this transaction, it's this: Never trade with Masai Ujiri. He rid the team of a player whose high-volume, low-efficiency scoring was stunting the growth of the rest of the young roster. Ujiri didn't just save the Raptors some money, either. But all told, there's no way to talk about this trade without categorizing it as an unqualified financial success. Gray will be a free agent after this season, and Acy's contract isn't guaranteed beyond this year, so the Raptors gave up a bit of financial flexibility on their end. So, if the Raptors want to let them walk away, they can save another $8 million in salary. Additionally, Patterson and Vasquez are both owed qualifying offers after the season. The Raptors are taking on four players whose salaries could total around $20 million next season, so at first glance, it appears that dumping Gay's salary ($17.9 million this year and $19.3 next year) didn't come cheap.īut Toronto can buy out Salmons' contract after the season, saving nearly $6 million in the process. The deal is an unqualified coup for Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri, who has now managed to shed his team's two worst contracts (Andrea Bargnani was the other one) in his first few months on the job. Looking deeper, there are plenty of other parties who'll be deeply affected by this deal. They took on that same player in a decision that should give rise to major concerns about the mental fitness of the team's new braintrust. Toronto got rid of a player that was hurting the rest of the roster's growth, costing far too much money and simply couldn't be a part of any legitimate rebuilding process. Right up front, there's a clear winner: the Raptors. With the particulars out of the way, it's time to parse out the winners and losers from the season's first splashy transaction.
In return, Toronto will receive Greivis Vasquez, John Salmons, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes. The Raptors will ship Gay, Qunicy Acy and Aaron Gray to Sacramento. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the Toronto Raptors have agreed to a seven-player deal that will send Rudy Gay to the Sacramento Kings.