Indiana Pacers Trade Rumors: Monta Ellis for Rudy Gay?
By Kyle Nishida
The Indiana Pacers have been very active this offseason, and it appears they are not close to being done.
Saturday evening, the Indiana Pacers started to engage in trade talks with the Sacramento Kings. There are not many details on this potential trade. However, the Pacers reportedly want to trade shooting guard Monta Ellis for the Kings’ small forward Rudy Gay.
ESPN’s Marc Stein first reported that trade discussions between the Pacers and the Kings were happening.
ESPN sources say Sacramento and Indiana have had recent trade discussions involving Kings F Rudy Gay potentially sending him to the Pacers
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 2, 2016
Rudy Gay is an interesting NBA player. First of all, he is a scorer. He is heavily reliant on the jump shot, and a good portion of his attempts are mid-range shots.
In his career, Gay has averaged 18.4 points per game on 45.2% shooting, and he just recorded 21.1 points per game for the Kings in the 2014-15 season.
Unfortunately, Gay is not known as an efficient scorer. NBA executives who do not like Gay constantly criticize Gay’s knack for being a high-volume shooter.
USA TODAY Sports’ Sam Amick believes the Kings are looking to ship Gay out of Sacramento. The Kings see the Pacers as a possible trade partner because they have Monta Ellis, a player the Kings have wanted for a while now.
Re: @ESPNSteinLine report about Rudy Gay trade talks: there's a definite desire to find him a new home, & an eternal pursuit of Monta Ellis.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) July 2, 2016
As mentioned before, it is not known if there are other players being discussed in this potential trade. However, a simple swap involving Ellis and Gay would benefit both the Pacers and the Kings.
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From the Indiana Pacers’ perspective, they should try their best to get this deal done.
Both players are currently on good value deals when one considers how much the salary cap rose this year. Ellis is set to earn about $33 million over the next three seasons. Meanwhile, Gay has one year, at $13.3 million, plus a player option left on his current contract.
The Indiana Pacers would only be tied to Gay for one season. Barring a bizarre injury, Gay will probably opt out of his contract after the 2016-17 season because the salary cap is rising again. If he opts out, the Pacers can use the free cap space to find another solid player.
Paul George is the Pacers’ starting small forward. So, there is a starting position conflict because Gay also plays small forward.
However, who says Gay or George cannot start at shooting guard? Both guys are athletic enough to guard backcourt players, Meanwhile, either guy can take advantage of a size mismatch offensively.
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It will be challenging to integrate Gay into the Indiana Pacers’ rotation. However, there plenty of reasons why they should make this deal. Gay’s talent and skills would make the Pacers a formidable NBA title contender.