National Basketball Association

Should the Charlotte Hornets Take a Chance on Rudy Gay?

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Recent news says that Rudy Gay wants out of Sacramento. Should Rich Cho and the Charlotte Hornets take a chance by on him?

Rudy Gay informed the Sacramento Kings‘ front office that he is considering opting out of his player option for the 2016-17 season. This might put pressure on Sacramento to trade him before its too late. He is thirty-years old and at the end of his prime.

Rudy Gay is set to be paid $13.3 million this season. Would it be wise for the Charlotte Hornets to trade for him on a one year rental like they did with Nicolas Batum last summer? Rudy Gay is a good player that can still put the ball in the bucket.

Rudy Gay Career Stats:

18.4 ppg/ 2.3 ast/ 5.9 reb/ 1.3 stls/ .8 blks/ .452 fg%/ .344 3p%

If we break his stats down even more we see that he boast a -2.1 NetRtg (104.2 OffRtg and 106.4 DefRtg) last year. For comparisons sake, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist boasted a +15.2 NetRtg (110.2 OffRtg and 95.0 DefRtg) and Jeremy Lamb had a +5.9 NetRtg (101.6 OffRtg and 95.7 DefRtg).

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This puts him more in the lane of Lamb, however, comparing stats across teams can be tricky. I believe the discontinuity in the Kings organization affected his stats. Much in the same was as Marco Belineli’s shooting percentages.

Trade Possibility

Regardless, Gay may not be worth the $13.3 million that he is owed this year. However, if a trade were to happen, I could see Lamb ($6.5 million) and Spencer Hawes ($6.3 million) being shipped to Sacramento. The salaries end up being similar. Hollinger predicts this trade to have a -1 win impact on the Hornets season.

However, both Lamb and Hawes have been rumored to be on the trading block this summer. This coincidence is hard to pass up. The trade would open up more playing time for Kaminsky and it would bring in a viable scoring threat to play with the second unit. This is a something that we will miss with the loss of Jeremy Lin.

Best Outcome

The best outcome would probably be for the Hornets to wait out the season and attempt to lure Gay to Charlotte next summer. This organization is starting to build a reputation as a preferred destination for free agents. Hopefully with another trip to the playoffs and more recognition of Steve Clifford’s coaching ability, we will be able to catch Gay’s attention.

If this were the case, I think Cho could get him to agree to something around $10-$12 million for a sixth man role with a contender. It has been a while since Gay was in the playoffs. That deal might be enough to get him to agree to the contract.

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