Sacramento Kings: Rudy Gay to opt out of contract
Nov 1, 2016; Miami, FL, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Rudy Gay (8) looks on in the game against the Miami Heat during the first half at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
After plenty of speculation, Sacramento Kings forward Rudy Gay has officially decided to opt of his current contract this summer, thus making him a free agent.
The biggest question looming over the Sacramento Kings now finally has an answer.
On Monday afternoon, Marc Spears of The Undefeated reported that Kings forward Rudy Gay is planning on opting out of his current contract, which will make him an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Well before the season began, reports circulated that Gay had informed the Kings that he was planning on opting out of his current $14 million deal at the end of the year. However, it was a decision that carried more complications than once was originally thought after Gay suffered his season-ending Achilles injury in mid-January.
But as Gay's agent, Roger Montgomery, relays to Spears in his report, Gay is "ahead of schedule" and is targeting a return to on court activities in mid-June after passing the first stage of his rehabilitation.
With Gay sticking to his original intentions regarding his player option, the Kings will now be working under different circumstances when it comes to this summer.
Having Gay's salary completely off the books opens up even more potential cap space for the Kings to operate with this offseason.
As we saw from their offseason activities two years ago though, that can be a double-edged sword, especially for a team whose decision-making has been questioned for as long as we can remember.
Of course, there's another component in Gay opting out of his deal with the Kings, the on-court effect.
Before his injury, Gay was on track to have a fine season by his standards as he averaged 18.7 points per game, a career-high 55.9 percent true shooting percentage and shot 37.2 percent from deep in the 30 games he logged this year.
But it's obviously fair to wonder how effective Gay will be post-injury. For a team that will have to develop many promising players, it's certainly tough for the Kings to have to strike the balance of what's best for their foundation and the desires of Gay.
While the door isn't closed for Gay to re-sign with the Kings this offseason, as Spears notes in his report, the team's new timeline seemingly makes it unlikely that Gay will want to extend his stay in Sacramento.
There's plenty of risk behind Gay's decision to test the waters in free agency this summer and considering the gravity of his injury, teams will undoubtedly think twice about committing to him for any length of time.
With that being said, there's at least some precedence in some players earning long and lucrative deals after suffering the same injury as Gay did this year.
If this is truly the end of Gay's time in Sacramento, it's one that ends with a tinge of regret as he played some of the best basketball of his 11-year career there.
Unfortunately, that didn't translate into team success due to many reasons that were outside of Gay's control. But there's still plenty of time for Gay to hopefully rectify that in wherever he lands next.
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