The NBA trade rumors on Rudy Gay reached a crescendo yesterday when it was part of a three-way deal involving the Boston Celtics and Blake Griffin.
The details of the trade can be found here.
The LA Clippers is a logical fit for Rudy Gay but they need to depend on other teams to bring the Sacramento Kings the assets that they covet. While they would like to find a way to acquire Gay while keeping their core group, they lack the assets to pull it off.
Rudy Gay is still a talented player at the small forward position but despite what he bring to the Clippers' table, giving up Griffin means giving up on the season, and possibly on the Clippers core of Blake, DeAndre Jordan, and Chris Paul. That's why it was not an easy decision to make along with the fact that the Celtics drive a hard bargain.
There are other teams with interest in Gay and the Miami Heat is one of them. They lost their veteran starter in Luol Deng to the LA Lakers and even Joe Johnson to the Utah Jazz. Gay could be the veteran insurance player as Justise Winslow continues to develop. Gay can also play stretch four alongside Hassan Whiteside.
However, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel thinks that Pat Riley is thinking long-term and Gay should be willing to be a stopgap solution if he were to move to South Beach.
Speaking of stopgap solutions, the Oklahoma City Thunder has the biggest vacancy at the small forward position. One of the best has left his seat unoccupied and Gay would be a ready option to take over, as Oklahoma's News9 pointed out.
"The 6-foot-8 swing man has a similar frame as Durant, and his scoring ability can't be debated, seeing Gay has averaged 18.4 points per game throughout his 10-year NBA career," Brett Copenbarger of News9 wrote. "To ensure the Thunder aren't that desperate team at the deadline, it may be a good idea for Presti to seriously consider making a deal for Gay before another team does."
The Thunder is hogging the headlines because of the rumored Russell Westbrook trade, but it could help the team's image if they tried to make the season relevant. There could be other superstars available before the deadline so the haul for Westbrook's return could be better.