The Houston Rockets may consider trading for Sacramento Kings wing Rudy Gay as an additional scoring option in Mike D'Antoni's up-tempo offense.
The Rockets seem all-in in stockpiling offensive threats on their roster. After signing Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon, the team's most significant addition in this year's free agency, it appears the Rockets are still finding a piece that could help them improve the small forward spot.
With the free agency market already dried up, the Rockets could explore trade deals that could land them a top wing. They have Corey Brewer, Trevor Ariza and Sam Dekker to fill the position, and while it would be interesting to see all of them being utilized by D'Antoni's fast-paced offense, their inconsistency could hurt the Rockets' offense.
According to Elliott Harris of Sports Illustrated's Fansided, Rudy Gay could be a candidate to improve the Rockets' wing position, with the Kings forward reportedly available.
Gay, who has reportedly requested the Kings for a trade, could give the Rockets another versatile forward who is capable of scoring and defending multiple positions. He would be a major upgrade over the Rockets' other rotational players at the spot, and could serve as a mentor to Sam Dekker, as noted by Harris.
"Personally, I feel that Rudy Gay would definitely meet the criteria and could serve as a mentor for the up and coming Sam Dekker. Fortunately for us, it has become common knowledge that Sacramento is actively trying to trade Gay for the right price," Harris wrote.
Furthermore, Harris noted that a deal for Gay would probably include Ariza and KJ McDaniels, which works perfectly on ESPN's trade machine.
For the Kings, Ariza could replace Gay as the top wing in Sacramento, but would probably have more value as mentor to the team's young talents. Meanwhile, McDaniels, an athletic guard-forward, would provide the Kings another young piece essential for their rebuild.
While Gay could improve the Rockets' perimeter defense, it would probably make more sense for the Rockets to eye a defensive big man who can fill the void left by Dwight Howard, who has signed with the Atlanta Hawks.
Nevertheless, it would be intriguing to add Gay to an already offensive-loaded lineup and to a system where he could thrive as the second best option.