Rudy Gay is probably enjoying the scenery in Toronto getting his champagne and campaign on word to Jalen Rose, but his Raptor
days may be coming to an end sooner rather than later. This is another
crucial season for swing man Rudy Gay of the Toronto OVO Raptors. Rudy
Gay was acquired via trade last season, and landed in Toronto after
playing with the Memphis Grizzlies for the past six seasons.
While in Memphis showed flashes of being a potential All-Star, but
like many players Gay never harnessed his potential. Though, Rudy Gay
was not an All-Star he was/is a pretty good player.
The problem with Rudy Gay is that his play never matched his contract
that he received from the Memphis Grizz. Gay signed a 5 year contract
worth $82.5 Million Dollars. Gay has two years left on the contract
with the player option to opt out. Gay is due over $36M’s during that
time span. When looking at that price for Gay, it is pretty steep
compared to what other Superstar small forwards are being paid.
With Rudy Gay being in Toronto you would think he can have his chance
to be “the man”, but he will probably not get to that status. With
Demar Derozan having a similar skill set to Gay he does not fit with
the Raptors as many thought he would.
Even though Rudy Gay has a bad contract he is still a catch to many
teams. Teams such as Washington, Chicago, Cleveland and many other
teams can dump their bad salary players to get a player like Gay. By
acquiring Gay a team can also benefit from his expiring deal. I
honestly feel like Gay would be the perfect fit in Washington or
Cleveland, but the Cavs have LeBron dreams, and the Wizards have to
wait and see what they have with Otto Porter Jr.
I’m not a psychic or anything, but I have a gut feeling that Rudy Gay
will be traded by the NBA All-Star break. Trading Gay will benefit
both parties in the long run. We know that Rudy isn’t the second
coming of Scottie Pippen, but he can be a quality player in a
different setting.
Gay can be the perfect third option to a team that is trying to get
over the hump. Whoever gets their hands on Gay better make sure they
give him a realistic contract compared to the one he received in
Memphis, if not he’ll continue to laugh all the way to the bank.
