Rudy Gay To The Heat?

The following story was written by Bottom Line sports writer Kevin Parrish Jr., and it originally appeared on the website NBA Lead.

Recently, rumors started to heat up about a potential three player trade between the Sacramento Kings and the Miami Heat. According to league sources, Sacramento would trade Rudy Gay and Darren Collison to the Miami Heat for Goran Dragic. Gay has been claiming all summer that he “wants out of Sacramento” and stating how “he doesn’t like it here.” He’s also scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after this upcoming season. Sacramento would be foolish to let him walk for nothing, so trading him right now is a no brainer. This trade would make sense for both sides.

Looking at Miami, one of many things that hurt the Heat with Dwayne Wade’s departure was his scoring. Miami needs another scorer, and trading for a scorer like Gay would help fill that void. Gay is a career 18.4 points per game scoring, while Chris Bosh averages a career of 19.2 point per game. Which means that Gay would definitely help to replace the production of Bosh. If Miami made this deal, they would take the three years, $52 million Dragic is owed off their books. Don’t forget that Bosh’s $22 million salary is scheduled to be off the books as he deals with his illness. This means that Miami could walk into next summer with about $42.3 million to spend in free agency.

Gay is on the books for $13 million this season, along with a $14.3 million player option. However, with the impressive resume that Pat Riley has shown in free agency with acquiring big names, it is more than likely that Gay would want to stay with the Heat for the foreseeable future. For Sacramento, they really need a starting caliber point guard, given that Collison is out for eight  games to start the season. Sacramento acquiring Dragic could form a nice compliment to DeMarcus Cousins, who’s regarded by some as the best big man in the game today.