Rudy Gay (Photo : NBAE via Getty Images)
Days before training camp officially kicks off, the Los Angeles Lakers are once again at the center of trade rumors after reports of their alleged interest in Sacramento Kings small forward Rudy Gay exploded over the weekend.
According to the reports, the Lakers are open to include Nick Young and Lou Williams to their trade package in exchange for Gay, who recently informed the Kings' front-office that he's bolting out after this season.
Neither team has confirmed this particular trade rumors. Moreover, there haven't been any major sports publication outlets like ESPN or Sports Illustrated backing up the validity of the report. Nevertheless, it's still a very interesting deal on paper.
More Lakers news - NBA Rumor Killer: Lakers 'not interested' in deal for Rudy Gay
Here are the three reasons why the Lakers would try to snag Gay from the Kings:
Instant Offense - With Kobe Bryant gone, the Lakers will heavily depend on the scoring prowess of their young guns this coming season. The problem here is the perimeter trio of D'Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson and Brandon Ingram are unproven scorers at this point of their careers.
Gay, who is averaging 18.2 points on 45 percent field gold clip over his 11 year career, could definitely help the Lakers in this particular department. His ability to score from the perimeter and on the interior gives Luke Walton an iso-offense option everytime the team hits a scoring drought.Young and Williams are good offensive players too, but Gay takes the role a little notch higher.
Better Fit as Stretch-Four - Julius Randle is a helluva of a talent. There's no question the 21-year old man-beast has the physical tools to become an unstoppable force in the league. However, many NBA pundits expect him to struggle this season because of his inability to sink the three-ball consistently. With Walton set to run a fast-paced, free-wheeling offense, Randle is going to be a spacing liability until he learns to become a better three-point shooter.
The Lakers won't give up that easy on Randle. That's for sure. Then again, acquiring a better floor-spacer in Gay would add another dynamics to the Lakers. Gay is a career 34 percent shooter, making him a legit deep threat for opposing teams.
Salary Cap maneuver - the Lakers are barely below the salary cap after re-signing Clarkson and adding Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng. To keep them in the thick of the free-agency sweepstakes for the likes of Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant and Gordon Hayward, they have to convert some of their long term deals into expiring contracts. Although Gay technically has a player option for the 2017-18 season, he's nevertheless expected to opt out for his last chance of signing a big contract next summer. He will leave additional $14 million on the table, putting the Lakers in position to shop for a legit star in 2017.
