Woj says Gay will exercise option and re-sign with Kings

[kingsboi]

I am very much looking forward to draft night. I hope we play the waiting game in the draft before we ship it out and see what's available to us when it's the Kings turn to pick. I'm also hoping Pete somehow acquires another first rounder or a second round pick which is doable because teams always give up second rounders for cents on the dollar.

 

[rainmaker]

**** yes!

This also means, I assume, Rudy in on board with teaming up with Boogie and making a real go of this through his prime. High praise when reading between the lines.

 

[Entity]

This answers question to how cuz is as a teammate. Rudy has plenty off money could have bolted and still got another good contract. He chose to stay and play with cuz. That's a testament

 

[King Baller]

This is great news! I also cannot wait for the Draft. I hope the Kings buy picks and make trades to reshape this squad around Cousins and Gay.

 

[King Baller]

This is great news! I also cannot wait for the Draft. I hope the Kings buy picks and make trades to reshape this squad around Cousins and Gay.

I want to see new starters at the 1, 2 and 4. Guys that can defend their position and consistently hit jumpers. Oh and the 4 needs to be able to block shots.

OK Pete and Crew, get to it!

 

[roasthawg]

I want to see new starters at the 1, 2 and 4. Guys that can defend their position and consistently hit jumpers. Oh and the 4 needs to be able to block shots.

OK Pete and Crew, get to it!

The one spot I really don't expect any change is at PF. We have a bunch of guys under contract there that are decent pros. I think we're gonna throw bodies at the position and play matchups this year. I'm fully expecting a new starter at sg, couldn't imagine us not doing anything there. I think we might draft Smart on Thursday and shakeup the point... not sure what we'll do if he's not there at #8 though.

 

[Warhawk]

If he agrees to an extension can they lower his salary this season and spread it out over the contract? For example, can they give him $16.3 million for this season and add the $3 million to be spread out on top of whatever the next 4 years would be? Or is his 19.3 for this season mandatory to be 19.3 for one season?

No, they cannot change his salary for next year. He opted into his final year of a contract at that amount. Any extension would take effect the next year and do not affect each other financially.

 

[Spike]

Good move by Gay.

Knowing that you're building around Cousins/Gay helps you in the draft more than assuming only Cousins would be on the roster.
Based on this, I expect PDA to move into "win now" mode, and shop the 8th pick. Seems like both Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson are available for the right price, now that Melo opted out. Either of the two would help.

 

[VF21]

From Instagram (DMC's account):



Looks like DMC is definitely happy about the news.

GO KINGS!!!

 

[VF21]

Make no mistake, fellow Kings fans. This is a ringing endorsement of Cousins by Rudy Gay. Make sure you grab a seat early. We're in for a GREAT RIDE!

 

[JLoss22]

!!!!!!!!! So happy

 

[HereWeBoogie]

I'm also hoping Pete somehow acquires another first rounder or a second round pick which is doable because teams always give up second rounders for cents on the dollar.

THIS!

 

[HereWeBoogie]

From Instagram (DMC's account):

View attachment 4894

Looks like DMC is definitely happy about the news.

GO KINGS!!!

i love the fact that our 2 best players developed a great relationship. throughout last season you could tell on and off the court that Rudy and DeMarcus were developing a good bond

 

[PurpleHaze]

i love the fact that our 2 best players developed a great relationship. throughout last season you could tell on and off the court that Rudy and DeMarcus were developing a good bond

I agree - mutual respect. Rudy Gay is such a solid pro, class act, well spoken, older than DeMarcus Cousins by about 4 years. I think Boogie has great respect for Rudy for all that and more. I remember when Big Cuz signed his max contract he said Vivek had his back and he had his. Hopefully once Rudy signs extension with Kings both DeMarcus and Rudy will say same about each other. In the meantime, I think it's a given the bond is there.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Rudy is definitely one of the biggest pros on and off the court that we have seen in a long time. He is great with the fans

 

[Glenn]

Well we were most likely not going to be able to sign any impact FA's with his $ so..yay?

Even signing IT to the contract he thinks he is worth will probably put us over the Luxury tax. As to IT, the Kings will have to make a decision if he is worth it.

I personally am breathing a big sigh of relief as the upcoming draft is now not as crucial. I would have been heartbroken if Gay opted out, signed with another team, and our two stars were Boogie and IT.

 

[Glenn]

A core of Bledsoe/Gay/Cuz could do some damage. Hoping we can get him somehow in addition to a rim protector

I haven't been paying attention to the NBA recently. Can we afford Bledsoe, Cuz, and Gay? If we pulled this off, I think I could generate a mega amount of excitement.

 

[hrdboild]

Make no mistake, fellow Kings fans. This is a ringing endorsement of Cousins by Rudy Gay. Make sure you grab a seat early. We're in for a GREAT RIDE!

I think it's a ringing endorsement of 19 million dollars. This is more ammo for the "trade the pick, win now" crowd but I'm already on record as thinking that decision could be a monumental mistake. We could play out the season with no guarantee from Rudy Gay, bring in Rondo or Love with no guarantee, and find ourselves with no draft pick next summer (top 10 protected) watching them all leave for big contracts to any of these cities with tons of cap room in 2015: LA, New York, Miami, Boston, San Antonio, Dallas, Philadelphia, Orlando, Atlanta, Memphis. I'm excited about the possibility of adding All-Star players but we've got to keep our future in mind while we do it.

 

[CurseOfTheSalmons]

I think it's a ringing endorsement of 19 million dollars. This is more ammo for the "trade the pick, win now" crowd but I'm already on record as thinking that decision could be a monumental mistake. We could play out the season with no guarantee from Rudy Gay, bring in Rondo or Love with no guarantee, and find ourselves with no draft pick next summer (top 10 protected) watching them all leave for big contracts to any of these cities with tons of cap room in 2015: LA, New York, Miami, Boston, San Antonio, Dallas, Philadelphia, Orlando, Atlanta, Memphis. I'm excited about the possibility of adding All-Star players but we've got to keep our future in mind while we do it.

and you think these guys are more likely to stay if we suck next year?

 

[Sac.Kings]

I haven't been paying attention to the NBA recently. Can we afford Bledsoe, Cuz, and Gay? If we pulled this off, I think I could generate a mega amount of excitement.

I think our owner wouldn't mind overpaying just a tad ... sometimes to put a real winner out there you have to pony up the money. Depending on trades though, it really may not even be too bad, especially if Landry got traded. All that is going through my head right now is "SHOW ME THE MONEY!!" from the movie Jerry Maguire.

 

[hrdboild]

and you think these guys are more likely to stay if we suck next year?

I think it's fun to be optimistic, but I wouldn't put my franchise's future at the mercy of anyone else. If you can get them to sign an extension, by all means trade away some assets to make it happen. Without that commitment, there are too many other teams in the running to just cross your fingers and hope you can outbid everyone in a year. 36 wins this season would have been enough to lose our pick so trading this year's pick for a veteran on a one year deal (who eventually signs elsewhere) means we've lost two lottery picks in a row for nothing. Throw in Ben too and now we've thrown away three lottery picks in a row. (Actually, make that four if you count Thomas Robinson).

 

[Bosnian Diehard]

Nice first step to building a solid team for next year.

OK, who am I kidding, super excited he opted in!!!

 

[Padrino]

i think this was the right move for both parties. the kings get another guaranteed season of rudy gay (albeit at $19 million) to determine if he'll be a longterm piece of the puzzle going forward or a trade chip in a future transaction. and for gay, it's a lengthier period in which to determine if he can envision himself winning in sacramento. of course, signing gay to an extension later this summer would shift the tenor of the conversation a bit, and that remains a distinct possibility. the eventual figure of such an extension would no doubt represent a healthy pay cut for rudy, but the kings will still want to be careful about the size of the deal. in either case, it's nice to know in advance of the draft that rudy has decided to opt in; there had been a few too many unknowns heading into this offseason for my liking...

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Super excited to see what happens on draft day. I have to assume there will be more going on for the Kings than just making the 8th pick. Will they make trades for more picks? Buy picks? Trade the 8th pick?

Going to be a long wait until October, i know that

 

[Bricklayer]

I think it's a ringing endorsement of 19 million dollars. This is more ammo for the "trade the pick, win now" crowd but I'm already on record as thinking that decision could be a monumental mistake. We could play out the season with no guarantee from Rudy Gay, bring in Rondo or Love with no guarantee, and find ourselves with no draft pick next summer (top 10 protected) watching them all leave for big contracts to any of these cities with tons of cap room in 2015: LA, New York, Miami, Boston, San Antonio, Dallas, Philadelphia, Orlando, Atlanta, Memphis. I'm excited about the possibility of adding All-Star players but we've got to keep our future in mind while we do it.

We can't really. Too weak a market for that. And with contracts getting shorter and shorter every CBA, which does NOT favor smaller markets BTW, it gets harder and harder to make those sorts of long term moves anyway. Your task as a franchise is to get talent in the door, and get the right talent in the door so that you win enough it will decide to stay. it would be fairly unprecedented for everybody to jump ship off a new 50 win team for instance. Shaq did it of course, but much as Shaq is now supposedly a beloved member of the franchise, he was an immature selfish twit back then.

You bring them in and win, and you win long term. You bring them in and lose, they leave. But going through NBA life too scared to bring in talent because you might lose with it is no way to go through life.

 

[Hallama]

Ringing endorsement of the Vivek era. No way that happens with the Maloof's. So, good!

 

[Jespher]

I'm really excited that Rudy opted to stay for another year+! Sure skeptics can point to 19.3 million reasons this is a no brainer, however, this makes me very confident that an extension is also in the works for July. The King's have been talent poor for some time, and Rudy adds a much needed finisher with Olympic pedigree to go with DeMarcus. Welcome back Rudy, and please stick around for a while!

Rudy has excellent length for his position, shoots well from mid range and from 3, rebounds appropriately for a small forward, and can close out a game offensively or defensively when called to. I think his team defense will improve with a full training camp with the team as well. This season looked like a lot of learning tendencies on the fly, as the constant trades scrambled personnel and chemistry. Rudy was a plus defender in Memphis, aided by rebounding big men and a pesky point guard, and Isaiah and Cousins can both grow into those roles nicely.

I would like to see him improve his handling skills, and I noticed his turnovers were increased without Isaiah in the end of the season. Would the Kings be players for Darren Collison to play alongside Isaiah for a 2 point guard combo. Each could drive, kick, and hit the open 3 as needed, taking ball handling duties away from Rudy, and especially DeMarcus "point center" Cousins.

On a personal note, I took my 6 year old son to his first Kings game ever this year, and Rudy was a huge part of throttling the Cavs by 42 points. He was making everything that he threw toward the hoop. Each time he would pull up, before his release, we would chant "ALL DAY RUDY GAY". Time to change the chant a bit...

HERE WE STAY RUDY GAY

 

[HereWeBoogie]

One thing Rudy certainly needs to improve on is protecting the ball on his drives to the rim. Seems to get stripped far too easily once he picks the ball up

 

[hrdboild]

We can't really. Too weak a market for that. And with contracts getting shorter and shorter every CBA, which does NOT favor smaller markets BTW, it gets harder and harder to make those sorts of long term moves anyway. Your task as a franchise is to get talent in the door, and get the right talent in the door so that you win enough it will decide to stay. it would be fairly unprecedented for everybody to jump ship off a new 50 win team for instance. Shaq did it of course, but much as Shaq is now supposedly a beloved member of the franchise, he was an immature selfish twit back then.

You bring them in and win, and you win long term. You bring them in and lose, they leave. But going through NBA life too scared to bring in talent because you might lose with it is no way to go through life.

Isn't the draft a way to bring in talent? Throwing away top 10 picks like party favors is hardly the same thing as being "too scared to bring in talent you might lose". It smacks of desperation. I like Rondo a lot but without an extension he's not worth McLemore and two picks. Same goes for Love. Some people act like drafting a player is roughly equivalent to spinning a roulette wheel but it's not. It's the only opportunity you get to sort through a whole bunch of players and hand pick the one who fits your team the best and then sign them to a cheap 4 year contract with team options. In theory anyway, a team that knows what it wants should be able to get a productive player through the draft almost every year.

The weak market argument only goes so far. Lebron James is going to make more endorsement money in a major media market. For anyone who's a borderline All-Star or lower, I'm not sure it matters much. There's quality of life considerations perhaps that factor into it but there's also a salary cap and luxury tax so it doesn't matter how many players want to play for the Knicks or the Lakers if they're capped out. The rest will have to make their money elsewhere. Sacramento may not be a top destination on most NBA player's list, but it doesn't really matter. Winning teams are always in demand. Iguodala went to the Warriors not the Kings last summer because he saw a chance to win. Kevin Durant stayed with OKC as long as he has because they're winning, no other reason. You want to succeed in a small market? Draft well and fill in the gaps with role-players. 3 of the top 4 teams in the league this year were small market teams who built their rosters primarily through the draft.

Right now we have four young guys who could all get substantially better over the next 4 years. If not for 11th hour Maloofian spite we'd have young players to develop at every position. If we give away all of our young talent for a one year gamble we lose all of that potential to develop internally and instead we have to start the process all over again.

 

[Sac.1989]

Great news, Rudy never struck me as one with a big city bright lights mentality. He’s happy here and glad to stay put. We helped him regain his confidence and he’s repaid us by being a legit 2nd option. Here’s to a long term 1-2 punch and even brighter future together.