Rudy Gay has been the topic of a ton of trade rumors, considering he doesn’t see a future with the Sacramento Kings. Gay has expressed his displeasure with the organization and his willingness to leave at the end of the season.
Despite the Kings saying they aren’t trying to trade him, Gay has been rumored to be a target for many teams but one trade might have happened but the trigger was never pulled. The Kings and Thunder were discussing a swap centered around Gay and young point guard Cameron Payne. The deal was pulled after Payne suffered a broken foot.
Following from Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo! Sports.
Sacramento has been determined to find a young point guard to run its team. The Kings were seriously engaged with Oklahoma City on a Rudy Gay deal that would have included the Thunder’s second-year point guard, Cameron Payne, but those talks stalled after Payne broke his foot in September, league sources said.
This could be a nice replacement scorer for the Thunder in the wake of Kevin Durant’s departure. Of course, it’s not a full fix on the loss of KD but it’s a good start. Way better than the options the Thunder currently have.
Getting rid of Payne might be the hardest part of this deal for OKC. Granted, they most likely would end up with Darren Collison in the deal but still, Payne is young and has a lot of value in the league. They appear to really like him but he hasn’t quite progressed as fast as they would’ve hoped. With Russell Westbrook signed for a few more seasons, Payne might not have received a starting role with OKC but on the Kings, he would immediately be the lead point guard.
Another Rudy Gay trade dashed before it can go anywhere. Hopefully, for him, this issue can be resolved soon.
