Rudy Gay has a big, lucrative decision to make soon. (USATSI)
More postseason coverage: Playoff schedule, results | Latest news, notes
The Sacramento Kings are hot in the pursuit of one of their own players. Rudy Gay has a player option for the 2014-15 season, which would pay him $19.3 million for the 82-game campaign. As he decides whether or not to get that money for one season or to become a free agent in hopes of getting a nice long-term deal, the Kings are sending in a couple of Hall of Famers to convince him to opt in for next season.
Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports is reporting the Kings are sending Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin along with their owner, general manager, and coach to a meeting with Gay in Sacramento on Tuesday. The point of the meeting is to convince the forward that he should let the team pay him nearly $20 million.
Sacramento Kings officials are bringing two Hall of Famers to meet forward Rudy Gay on Tuesday in hopes of convincing him to exercise the option in his contract for next season, sources told Yahoo Sports.
Gay has to decide by June 30 whether to exercise a contract option that will pay him $19.3 million next season. Hall of Famers Chris Mullin and Mitch Richmond, a former Kings star, are expected to join Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, general manager Pete D'Alessandro and head coach Michael Malone when they meet with Gay.
Gay was originally expected to have the meeting in his offseason home of Memphis, but preferred to have it in Sacramento.
When asked recently about his decision process, Gay told Yahoo Sports: "I'm just taking my time. That's all."
The Kings will also be showing Gay a digital rendering of the new arena that will be built in downtown Sacramento that is sure to be state of the art when it's finished. It will be delivered on digital eyewear -- presumably Google Glass, which the Kings have been big on in the past -- as they send the forward on a 3-D virtual tour of the arena.
The team acquired Gay from the Toronto Raptors in December this past season. After shooting 38.8 percent in the first 18 games of the season with the Raptors, Gay turned his shooting accuracy around by making 48.2 percent of his shots with the Kings in 55 games. He averaged 20.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists with the Kings.
Basketball Hot News
Sam Presti says Thunder not considering amnestying Kendrick Perkins
Kendrick Perkins has guided Kevin Durant* and mentored Steven Adams – the Oklahoma City Thunder’s best and arguably most-pivotal players, respectively.
*Durant during his MVP-acceptance speech on Perkins: “I hated you before you got here. But the moment you got here, man, you just changed my whole perception of you. Just one of the best teammates I’ve ever had. I thank you so much. The late-night calls after tough games, you texting me telling me I’m MVP – that meant a lot to me. Thank you.”
Perkins is also due $9,404,342 next season, the final year of his contract.
His on-court production no longer warrants that salary, but he also has a strong locker-room presence. The Thunder must balance those competing forces when facing the annual question:
Will Oklahoma City amnesty Perkins?
Thunder general manager Sam Presti, via Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman:
“I knew I’d get that question,” Presti said. “I wish I had something clever to say there, but I don’t. We’ll look at everything, as we always do. But as we’ve said before, it’s not something that’s been considered to this point.”
Well, that just can’t be true. Not even considering amnestying Perkins would be stupid, and Presti isn’t stupid. But if he doesn’t plan to amnesty Perkins, why dwell on the internal discussions about that decision?
Beyond Perkins’ value as a veteran leader, amnestying him wouldn’t accomplish much.
Amnestying Perkins would put the Thunder slightly below the projected salary cap, but they’d still have just the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($5,305,000) to spend on a free agent.
If the Perkins don’t amnesty Perkins, they could still spend the full mid-level exception without crossing into the luxury tax – though adding the bi-annual exception ($2,077,000) would put them over the line. So, there’s the slightest incentive to amnesty Perkins if Oklahoma City can use the bi-annual to replace him with a better player, which is not a given and would cost quite a bit of real dollars.
Plus, Perkins’ large expiring contract could prove useful in a trade. Those types of deals can always grease the wheels when non-matching salaries are involved.
In the meantime, Oklahoma City will be keeping a well-liked player who still has some value – even if it’s not as much as his paycheck.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment