It also pays him pretty well up until that point (an average of $13.3 million per season). The deal Gay signed with Sacramento allows the forward to opt out in 2017, one year after the cap explodes and just before he turns 31.
Signing a three-year deal in 2015 would mean Gay couldn't take advantage of the new TV money until 2018.
In this case, longer deals benefit the teams more than players.
If Gay were to enter 2015 free agency, chances are any team paying big coin might insist he sign for three years to protect themselves from a quick free agent exit.
It should be the goal of all upper-tier players to become free agents in 2016, or as soon as possible thereafter. He probably would have been in line to ink a deal around $15 million per season, with the Kings or elsewhere.īut remember in 2016 the salary cap figures to explode due to the new national TV deal. Without signing an extension and assuming he continues to perform, he'd have entered 2015 free agency among the top 10 options. So why does deal works so well for both parties? Gay's value is sky-high because of the improvements he's made. The knock on Gay has always been his lack of efficiency. The top scorer in the West, Kobe Bryant, is scoring 0.96 points per shooting possession to Gay's 1.14. Only four of the players scoring more than Gay this season have higher TS% marks: Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Anthony Davis, LeBron James. This season he's scoring 22.5 points per game, good for No. In Toronto, Gay had a True Shooting percentage of. 11/20: States that produce NBA players 11/11: 8 charts that explain the Lakers 11/6: Don't panic about the Cavaliers 11/3: 3 reasons the Kings are this season's Suns 10/30: OKC's Westbrook problem 10/29: 3 reasons the Lakers may be tanking 10/28: Relax and love the NBA 10/27: Kawhi should hold out for max It's a relatively small difference, but there's also the matter that defenses are more keyed in on stopping Cousins, so Gay can get free with less attention.Ī column on the NBA. In Sacramento, Gay has had 1,174 shooting possessions in 2,261 minutes, or 18.7 shooting possessions per 36 minutes. With the Raptors, Gay had 1,000 shooting possessions in 1,785 minutes, or just over 20 shooting possessions per 36 minutes, including free throws.
1 weapon on offense (in his mind, at least). That wasn't the case in Toronto, where Gay was the No. The biggest item to note about Sacramento Rudy is he's a clear No. He's very different from the Rudy Gay you might remember from Memphis or Toronto.Īs a supplemental option, Gay is more efficient. While Gay will be taking a steep pay cut next season - he's making more than $19 million this year - it's the perfect deal for both sides.īefore we explain why, we need to re-assess Gay in Sacramento. The three-year, $40 million deal has Gay staying in Sacramento through 2017-18, though there's a player option for the deal's final season. After flirting with a deal in the offseason, the Kings and Rudy Gay reached an extension agreement that will keep the high-scoring forward out of free agency in 2015.