Nothing really happened, though: Omer Asik stayed put as Houston realized telling everyone, “We have to trade this guy by this date!” could hurt the value trade offers - the fact Asik was showing us a complete arsenal of “I’m depressed” faces while in a suit on game days did not help (as a self-proclaimed stats nerd, am I allowed to criticize Daryl Morey) Doc Rivers shut down any Blake Griffin– Carmelo Anthony swap rumors immediately, because he knows the inherent power of trade rumors from his time using them to forge his way from coaching Jordan Crawford at point guard to a guy named Chris Paul and the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets cannot make any trades because … well … because they have no assets and have no cap space (New York City Meltdown, Part 26). This year is no exception, as fans and media alike braced themselves for a crazy trade season when the embargo to move players signed this summer was lifted in mid-December. Trades are much more frequent in the NBA than they are in any of the other major sports and as a result, we tend to always assume more trades will happen in any given season than what reality leaves us. The NBA trade market is an interesting thing. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports Vernon is a Memphis guy, so I'm wondering what assets the Grizzlies think they "need" to get back for an over-paid SF?Īnd then there's this, for those who believe a certain local reporter has the ear of Suns ownership (though they didn't listen to him on Beasley).Miami, FL, USA Toronto Raptors shooting guard DeMar DeRozan (10) drives to the basket as Miami Heat shooting guard Ray Allen (34) defends during the first half at American Airlines Arena. Is Rudy Gay that max contract you've been wanting for Christmas? Or it's possible that they could parlay a low future draft pick into Memphis eating Michael Beasley's contract (and then releasing him, and stretching the remaining $9 million guaranteed to him over 5 seasons). But sending out those expirings would seriously dent the cap space this summer. The Suns have (basically) expiring contracts in Wesley Johnson ($4.2 million), Shannon Brown ($3.5 million), Sebastian Telfair ($1.75 million) and a host of <1 million extras on the bench: Tucker, Garrett, Zeller. The Grizzlies have made proposals on Gay to several teams, front-office sources told Yahoo! Sports.īut where would that other $6 million come from? The assumption on Memphis trading Gay is that they want to reduce their future salary obligations, what with huge contracts to three other players on the books: Randolph, Gasol, Conley. In an effort to avoid paying luxury tax in the short term, as well as get off the $17.8 million and $19.3 million owed Gay in the 2013-15 seasons, new Memphis management has aggressively shopped Gay. There's no framework of a possible deal in place, but the Grizzlies have expressed a strong desire that any package involving Gay include Suns forward Jared Dudley and future first-round draft picks, sources said. So they must send out more than $10 million in salary back to Memphis in any deal.Īccording to Woj, the Grizzlies are particularly interested in Jared Dudley ($4.25 million this year) and future picks. What would go back to Memphis is unknown, but the Suns can absorb only $6.3 million (cap space + $100,000) of the $16.4 owed to Gay this season. The troubling stat is the 3-point shooting, for a team that really needs it. Note that the points and rebounds are while playing on a very good team, with competition for those stats from Zach Randolph. He is only a 31% 3-point shooter over the past two seasons and 34% for his career. Gay has a career average of 17.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game.
The commitment would be: $16.4 million, $17.8 million and $19.3 million through 2014-15. The 26-year old Rudy Gay was re-signed to a maximum extension a year ago, and has 2 more years left on his contract after this season. According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Phoenix Suns are interested in acquiring Rudy Gay from the Memphis Grizzlies.