WOJ: Rudy Gay informs Kings he'll opt out and likely not return

[SacKings384]

So far, Sacramento has shown no inclination to move Gay without a substantial package in return, league sources told The Vertical. Several teams have engaged the Kings in trade talks, but teams say those conversations have yet to find traction. Some teams have been unclear with what exactly Sacramento wants in return, and others say the asking price is too unreasonable.

Nevertheless, Sacramento hasn’t ruled out trading Gay, but the team wants to compete for the playoffs, and team officials believe there are few, if any, deals available that could offer them short-term value on Gay, sources said.

Really crushes the trade value by coming out publicly with this. Coming out through WOJ which is not surprising at all. This is probably a power move to force a trade, but I think it does the opposite. Kings won't have any leverage.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/source...-opt-out-and-likely-not-return-163849864.html

 

[biltalent]

Woj wrote a new article about the Rudy Gay - Kings relationship. Here are a few "highlights" if you don't have the time or don't want to read the full article:

Forward Rudy Gay has informed Sacramento Kings management that he plans to use his 2017 player option to become an unrestricted free agent and considers himself unlikely to negotiate a new deal to return to the franchise, league sources told The Vertical.
Gay’s pledge to the Kings’ ownership and front office that he’s strongly leaning against re-signing with Sacramento is a declaration that could increase pressure on the organization to trade Gay sooner rather than later.

Kings owner Vivek Ranadive is determined to hold on to Gay, whom he considers a vital talent with All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins as the Kings move into a new arena this season. Ranadive has told associates that he believes he can change Gay’s mind this year and persuade him to stay, league sources said.
[...]
Gay’s lack of faith in ownership’s ability to create a sustainable, winning environment has strongly influenced his decision-making process, league sources told The Vertical.

Ranadive takes an active role in the Kings’ player personnel decisions – along with general manager Vlade Divac and assistant GM Ken Catanella.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/source...-opt-out-and-likely-not-return-163849864.html

I have no idea how Woj managed to again spin the fact that Rudy wants to opt out of a deal that underpays him in such a way that it seems that Vlade and Vivek have no clue what they are doing.

Edit: Kings media weighing in on twitter:

Aaron Bruski@aaronbruski
Considering massive evidence to the contrary, one has to wonder why PDA would be presented as a stabilizing force.

Tony Xypteras ‏@TonyXypteras
'Hey Woj, Rudy's agent here, can you do us a solid?'

Jason Jones ‏@mr_jasonjones
Rudy Gay opting out isn't a shock. Was the plan all along. Contract he signed was a bargain for the team before Malone firing.

 

[ElRey]

Gay's trade value is zero right now. Kings benefit more from the incremental team improvement by keeping him this year than any trade value they can get out of him. Kings are devoid of talent and losing Gay for nothing this season will be detrimental to the team success in this critical year when we are priming ourselves for free agency in 2017. If Kings show improvement and some stability, they will be a lot more attractive to free agents. At end of year, Kings can then decide to resign Gay or use his cap space to sign other free agents.

 

[Iced Espresso]

Everyone knew he was going to opt out.

Most likely whoever offers the best deal or most money gets him in FA. Was as true yesterday as it is today.

 

[Sac.Kings]

What a dumb move. Honestly. I hope he realizes that with every sentence that he says publicly about him wanting out makes it that much more difficult to trade him. Rudy do yourself a favor and shut the hell up. I don't want you here either, but give Vlade at least some leverage in trade talks. Now we will get next to nothing in return. Way to handicap us you dumb***.

 

[Entity]

well he just says he will opt out of contract with kings. that may not mean he would opt out if traded. just trying to force our hand.

 

[gunks]

I feel like he's being a baby with all this going to the press.

I totally get Rudy wanting out, this franchise has been a **** show, and one can safely assume it will continue to be a **** show until proven otherwise. ...

But come on guy, you've already done all you can to kill your trade value on the court by playing like pouty doo doo, now you have to further trash your trade value by taking away any leverage Vlade would have?

You're a moron, Rudy. It's not Vlade's fault nobody wants you. Have fun playing in China after you opt out.

 

[SacKings384]

Gay's trade value is zero right now. Kings benefit more from the incremental team improvement by keeping him this year than any trade value they can get out of him. Kings are devoid of talent and losing Gay for nothing this season will be detrimental to the team success in this critical year when we are priming ourselves for free agency in 2017. . If Kings show improvement and some stability, they will be a lot more attractive to free agents. at end of year, Kings can then decide to resign Gay or use his cap space to sign other free agents.

Is his value really zero? In today's market his contract is incredibly cheap. But I think the Kings don't have any real shot of getting any serious value out of him.

 

[miltonap]

So is this new news? Didn't Rudy say the same crap like a month ago? But yea, dude needs to understand that he's killing his own trade value more and more by reiterating this.

 

[ElRey]

Is his value really zero? In today's market his contract is incredibly cheap. But I think the Kings don't have any real shot of getting any serious value out of him.

Ok not absolutely zero, but you know what I mean. If he was worth anything decent, I'm sure Kings would have traded him by now.

 

[Blob]

The player we wanted for Rudy was Avery Bradley in a 3-way trade with Celts-Clips including Griffin. This would have been a sweet coup. But when Rivers and Ainge are involved you know the teams are going to be over-valuing their assets.

I can't help but keep coming back to Rudy-Boogie incompatibility. I think Rudy could put aside the front office turnover and hasty Malone firing if he felt he could get something going with the "best center in the NBA". Why is this is so inconceivable? Why is Rudy so close-minded to this proposition? I will tell you why. Because in his mind he's tried and its failed. And he's seen the tirades and the chaos and the dysfunction. There has been turnover with players and coaches but there is one constant and it is Cousins.

Vivek is a constant too but he's taken a backseat, right? He's ceded authority to Vlade for now for better or worse and this is the way it is.

I don't think Rudy wants to call out Boogie publicly, but he's been witness to the the craziness and he's had enough. I am open to another explanation, but given the fact we have a beautiful new arena and a highly regarded new coach, I am unable to come to any conclusion as to why Rudy cannot give SAC one more go-around???

I think also Rudy is deserving of some culpability. (1) He is a passive personality on a team desperately in need of leadership. (2) He dealt with two bad Achilles all last season and his game suffered because of it. Some of the blame for the failure needs to be redirected outward to inward, instead of pretending all the underachievement lies outside himself.

 

[gunks]

Also mentioned in Woj's article:

Vivek takes a very active roll in player personnel decisions. Yikes.

Looks like the irritant is still irritating. He just learned to keep his yap shut.

 

[TaxMan]

The player we wanted for Rudy was Avery Bradley in a 3-way trade with Celts-Clips including Griffin. This would have been a sweet coup. But when Rivers and Ainge are involved you know the teams are going to be over-valuing their assets.

I can't help but keep coming back to Rudy-Boogie incompatibility. I think Rudy could put aside the front office turnover and hasty Malone firing if he felt he could get something going with the "best center in the NBA". Why is this is so inconceivable? Why is Rudy so close-minded to this proposition? I will tell you why. Because in his mind he's tried and its failed. And he's seen the tirades and the chaos and the dysfunction. There has been turnover with players and coaches but there is one constant and it is Cousins.

Vivek is a constant too but he's taken a backseat, right? He's ceded authority to Vlade for now for better or worse and this is the way it is.

I don't think Rudy wants to call out Boogie publicly, but he's been witness to the the craziness and he's had enough. I am open to another explanation, but given the fact we have a beautiful new arena and a highly regarded new coach, I am unable to come to any conclusion as to why Rudy cannot give SAC one more go-around???

I think also Rudy is deserving of some culpability. (1) He is a passive personality on a team desperately in need of leadership. (2) He dealt with two bad Achilles all last season and his game suffered because of it. Some of the blame for the failure needs to be redirected outward to inward, instead of pretending all the underachievement lies outside himself.

Yes, there is that; however, there is also a likely scenario that he just saw a crap load of money going to free agent's the last off season. He's an aging vet who likely has one large contract remaining. That doesn't mean he thinks of himself as a max player; however, I'm sure he feels he's probably at least on par with someone like Ryan Anderson and the massive contract he got from the Rockets. So, to me, this seems like an obvious decision to opt out of his contract regardless of how much he loves or doesn't love Sac. Next decision is would he consider resigning in Sac, and given his age and the fact that the team hasn't sniffed the playoffs while he's been here, it's not surprising that he would state he is unlikely to negotiate a return. Could there be some underlying issues with Cousins? I guess, but I don't think it makes one difference in how he views the likelihood that he'll return.

 

[Kingsfan23]

The player we wanted for Rudy was Avery Bradley in a 3-way trade with Celts-Clips including Griffin. This would have been a sweet coup. But when Rivers and Ainge are involved you know the teams are going to be over-valuing their assets.

I can't help but keep coming back to Rudy-Boogie incompatibility. I think Rudy could put aside the front office turnover and hasty Malone firing if he felt he could get something going with the "best center in the NBA". Why is this is so inconceivable? Why is Rudy so close-minded to this proposition? I will tell you why. Because in his mind he's tried and its failed. And he's seen the tirades and the chaos and the dysfunction. There has been turnover with players and coaches but there is one constant and it is Cousins.

Vivek is a constant too but he's taken a backseat, right? He's ceded authority to Vlade for now for better or worse and this is the way it is.

I don't think Rudy wants to call out Boogie publicly, but he's been witness to the the craziness and he's had enough. I am open to another explanation, but given the fact we have a beautiful new arena and a highly regarded new coach, I am unable to come to any conclusion as to why Rudy cannot give SAC one more go-around???

I think also Rudy is deserving of some culpability. (1) He is a passive personality on a team desperately in need of leadership. (2) He dealt with two bad Achilles all last season and his game suffered because of it. Some of the blame for the failure needs to be redirected outward to inward, instead of pretending all the underachievement lies outside himself.

He's offended by the Kings shopping him in the first place is another option

 

[Bricklayer]

Tony Xypteras ‏@TonyXypteras
'Hey Woj, Rudy's agent here, can you do us a solid?'

On this one Tony X has it spot on. Remember who Woj works for. Its why his information is so good. Its also why his spin is so bad.

 

[Bricklayer]

Also mentioned in Woj's article:

Vivek takes a very active roll in player personnel decisions. Yikes.

Looks like the irritant is still irritating. He just learned to keep his yap shut.

Maybe. Been a Woj plank for years.

 

[Kingsfan23]

I guess this is one of the reasons he might have been one of the M.I.A. Kings in Florida for that get together.

Rudy looks in top shape on social media, and his market doesn't seem to match this. Did Vlade bungle this by his handling of Rudy? I didn't have a problem with Onri/Rudy playing together if the plan was to give Omri a deserved larger role here

Also don't like creep Woj taking more shots with the 2 tidbits Vivek/teams taking us for leverage which I take with a grain

 

[Bricklayer]

There is also this BTW:

The Kings have intentionally built our contracts so that next summer a whole bunch of them end/can be ended, thus giving us the caproom to either completely retool around Cuz, or to completely start over if Cuz is leaving and we have to trade him. Rudy coming out and saying I will opt out and leave next summer isn't necessarily the bad news from our front office's perspective you might think it is.

Of course depends if Rudy is going to be a disruptive locker room pit in the meantime of course.

 

[206Fan]

Did anyone seriously think Rudy would opt in? Or even opt out, then resign? This organization is dysfunctional as ****. Excuse the language, but if you can't see that, then I don't want what team you've been following for the last 10 years. Yes we have Joerger now, but it took us through 3 coaches to get to him.

The ONLY way we could ever sway him to stay is to make the playoffs and continue where we left off with Malone.

 

[ElRey]

There is also this BTW:

The Kings have intentionally built our contracts so that next summer a whole bunch of them end/can be ended, thus giving us the caproom to either completely retool around Cuz, or to completely start over if Cuz is leaving and we have to trade him. Rudy coming out and saying I will opt out and leave next summer isn't necessarily the bad news from our front office's perspective you might think it is.

Of course depends if Rudy is going to be a disruptive locker room pit in the meantime of course.

I don't think Rudy is going to be disruptive, it's not his nature. Plus, if he plays poorly or disruptive this contract season, he torpedoes his own value for free agency. This is likely going to be his last big contract, so only a FOOL will do that.

 

[SacKings384]

There is also this BTW:

The Kings have intentionally built our contracts so that next summer a whole bunch of them end/can be ended, thus giving us the caproom to either completely retool around Cuz, or to completely start over if Cuz is leaving and we have to trade him. Rudy coming out and saying I will opt out and leave next summer isn't necessarily the bad news from our front office's perspective you might think it is.

Of course depends if Rudy is going to be a disruptive locker room pit in the meantime of course.

Yeah the Kings are trying to rebuild the locker room after a disastrous five years or so. Especially last year. I don't envision Rudy lasts long if he starts being unprofessional.

 

[jcwkings]

The last thing we need is another season of players coming in not bought in to trying to win or play for the team. They really need to have a sit down with him and if he isn't onboard then dump him for whatever you can get.

 

[whoopdeedoo]

Maybe. Been a Woj plank for years.

Did you see the other news Woj broke this morning shortly after the Rudy article? The contract extension for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Oh, how cute! Jeff Austin is the agent for both of them too. It is glaringly obvious why the Rudy article was written.

edit: I don't know the full extent of their representation but I believe Alex Saratsis was the person who negotiated Rudy's last contract too. I am pretty sure he negotiated Giannis' contract. I just did a quick google to get the Jeff Austin name, I am guessing they are a team?

edit edit: They both work for the Octagon Basketball Agency. Jeff Austin is the managing director and Alex Saratsis is the Director.

 

[gunks]

Maybe. Been a Woj plank for years.

Yeah, hopefully it's just hot air blowing out of the Woj hole.... I don't really like the alternative.

But if one looks at the roster moves this past summer. ... definitely seems more low key and Vlade.

 

[whoopdeedoo]

Yeah, hopefully it's just hot air blowing out of the Woj hole.... I don't really like the alternative.

But if one looks at the roster moves this past summer. ... definitely seems more low key and Vlade.

I would guess it's hot air. It's the typically Woj article that has to take some unnecessary shots at someone to to drive some sort of interest as the rest of the info is all old news. Hell, the shots at Vivek are old news too but it's the kind of tidbit others "reporters" love to repeat ad nauseam.

 

[biltalent]

Did anyone seriously think Rudy would opt in? Or even opt out, then resign? This organization is dysfunctional as ****. Excuse the language, but if you can't see that, then I don't want what team you've been following for the last 10 years. Yes we have Joerger now, but it took us through 3 coaches to get to him.

The ONLY way we could ever sway him to stay is to make the playoffs and continue where we left off with Malone.

I never thought Rudy would be on this roster come next sommer. Even if we werent dysfinctional it would still be financially stupid of him not to opt out. The way the cap is he is going to get between 15 and 20 mil a year. And even if he would like to come back I don't want to give a huge contract to a 31 year old and would probably let him go except for him having a monster year and acceptiong a 2 year contract.
So this report is old news. The more worrisome thing is that we have one week to go before traing camp and Woj is trying to do an agent a favor by applying more pressure to our FO to finally deal our starting SF. Meanwhile we still do not how many games our starting PG will be suspended..

 

[Kingster]

We've got an owner who proclaims the importance of and wrote a book on "the two-second advantage," and we have Kings' management that is behind the curve by months. Come on. As a GM you've got to to keep abreast of your players and their attitudes concerning the team and their role so that if need be you can make proactive decisions. It's inexcusable that the trade leverage concerning the second-most talented player on the team has been squandered. Kings' management just made the talent-hole that much deeper.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Did you see the other news Woj broke this morning shortly after the Rudy article? The contract extension for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Oh, how cute! Jeff Austin is the agent for both of them too. It is glaringly obvious why the Rudy article was written.

edit: I don't know the full extent of their representation but I believe Alex Saratsis was the person who negotiated Rudy's last contract too. I am pretty sure he negotiated Giannis' contract. I just did a quick google to get the Jeff Austin name, I am guessing they are a team?

edit edit: They both work for the Octagon Basketball Agency. Jeff Austin is the managing director and Alex Saratsis is the Director.

Looks pretty transparent, and we've known that this is how Woj works for quite a while now. So Woj gets to break the Giannis extension in exchange for doing the dirty work on the Rudy situation. Basically Rudy is publicly forcing our hand to trade him. The problem is, by doing that he lowers our return value.

Here's how I play it if I'm Vlade: Don't give in to the trade demand - yet. When the deadline comes around, Rudy's value goes way up. Trade values are higher at the deadline than in the offseason because at the deadline, teams know whether or not they're in contention and they know what pieces they need. Plus, Rudy will likely be the one of the best, if not THE best player on the market. Get the bidding up, and pull the trigger. That's the time. If we trade him now, we'll probably get 50 cents on the dollar.

 

[Sac.Kings]

Looks pretty transparent, and we've known that this is how Woj works for quite a while now. So Woj gets to break the Giannis extension in exchange for doing the dirty work on the Rudy situation. Basically Rudy is publicly forcing our hand to trade him. The problem is, by doing that he lowers our return value.

Here's how I play it if I'm Vlade: Don't give in to the trade demand - yet. When the deadline comes around, Rudy's value goes way up. Trade values are higher at the deadline than in the offseason because at the deadline, teams know whether or not they're in contention and they know what pieces they need. Plus, Rudy will likely be the one of the best, if not THE best player on the market. Get the bidding up, and pull the trigger. That's the time. If we trade him now, we'll probably get 50 cents on the dollar.

Agreed. Also, after his play last season, perhaps he will play better this season to increase his own value and thus allowing us to cash in on a bigger prize. I think that's the play (the one you outlined) unless **** hits the fan and Rudy all of a sudden becomes a big problem in the locker room. I can see why Cuz potentially had a problem with him... if he was saying this stuff last season and with Cuz being so loyal to us (why I don't know), there definitely would have been issues.

 

[funkykingston]

Looks pretty transparent, and we've known that this is how Woj works for quite a while now. So Woj gets to break the Giannis extension in exchange for doing the dirty work on the Rudy situation. Basically Rudy is publicly forcing our hand to trade him. The problem is, by doing that he lowers our return value.

Here's how I play it if I'm Vlade: Don't give in to the trade demand - yet. When the deadline comes around, Rudy's value goes way up. Trade values are higher at the deadline than in the offseason because at the deadline, teams know whether or not they're in contention and they know what pieces they need. Plus, Rudy will likely be the one of the best, if not THE best player on the market. Get the bidding up, and pull the trigger. That's the time. If we trade him now, we'll probably get 50 cents on the dollar.

My thoughts exactly. If Rudy looks like the piece to get a team over the hump post all-star break then he has real value.

Right now? I think teams are looking to see if they can get him for a bargain.

Different markets.