When I wrote about Rudy Gay‘s contract situation two months ago, I described the Raptors forward as both an extension candidate and a trade candidate, depending on how the team thought he fit into its long-term plans. According to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, that’s also how GM Masai Ujiri viewed Gay heading into training camp. Stein wrote on Friday that Toronto would have been willing to consider an extension for Gay if the club liked what it saw in camp.
Now, however, Stein suggests that there’s a “strong sense” the Raptors are open to trading anyone on their roster not named Jonas Valanciunas. While there are other potential trade candidates in Toronto, including DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, Gay looks like the most obvious chip. He’s still an 18 or 19 PPG player, and may be on an expiring contract, since he has a player option for 2014/15 that he could turn down in favor of a longer deal.
Gay’s $17.89MM salary will be a deterrent when it comes to finding a trade partner, but if the Raptors were willing to take a big salary back, along with an asset or two, it’s not hard to imagine them finding a taker. Non-tanking teams hoping to earn a playoff spot this season and needing one more piece to get there could show interest in Gay. The Bucks, Wizards, Bobcats, and Cavaliers are among the candidates that come to mind, and that’s just in the East.
So what do you think? Will Ujiri do what he did in Denver with Carmelo Anthony and Nene, striking a deal that ships his highest-paid player out of town? Or will the Raptors play out the season with Gay in the hopes of landing a playoff spot themselves?
As a Raptor fan, I would love to see him traded to the Bulls for Boozer and either the Charlotte pick or Nikola Mirotic. The Bulls can use him as a small-ball PF, or as a replacement for Luol Deng should they move him this year. Could include Aaron Gray to give the Bulls additional front court depth, or expand the trade to include Amir Johnson/Kyle Lowry to really push the Raptors into tank mode
I voted “no”, only because I don’t believe the Raps will get anything close to what they expect to receive for him.
Why on Earth would they trade Gay for Boozer? Boozer earns just a hair less than Gay does over the final two years of his contract, and Gay is a major possibility to decline his play option for contract security.
No team (besides the Knicks for Bargs, apparently) is giving up a decent first rounder for a clunky guy like Gay. Just a silly idea.
The Raptors would do it to acquire additional assets. Teams give up 1st round picks for “clunky guys” all the time (Kurt Thomas to the Sonics plus 2 additional picks, Thunder acquiring Eric Maynor, a first round pick that year, and Matt Harpring to save Utah cap space, Baron Davis to Cleveland along with a 1st rounder).
I stated up front that I’m a Raptor fan, so I don’t expect Chicago to make that trade. However, if they were looking to move Rudy, I’d rather see them max out what they can get, even if it means acquiring a worse contract. The Bulls have historically avoided the tax, and it has been stated many times that they would be hesitant to use the amnesty as the owner isn’t a fan of paying someone a large sum to not play for their team. This would allow them to get out from the Boozer contract a year earlier while still maintaining their contender status.
As a raptors fan im fine with them tanking as long as derozan stays, ive never been a fan of gay and hes just been god awful at shooting, if we could get a 2nd rd pick id be satisfied he needs to go as soon as possible. Or im fine if he comes off the bench but hes not much of a team player so that wont happen. Starting line up should be lowery, ross, derozan, johnson, valancunis. Gays to much of a liablity think what u want but this is what i think take whatever u can get for him even if its way undervalue