He is clearly a better 3-point shooter from the elbows than he is from the corners. Gay’s shot chart shows a few interesting trends.
He can run the floor, post up, hit a mid-range jumper and this season, he improved greatly from behind the arc. At 6-foot-8 with a 7-3 wingspan, he can play either forward position and may solve the Kings’ issues at the power position moving forward. Versatility is what separates Gay from so many others. After paying him $19.3 million in 2014-15, the Kings are on the hook for $12.4 this season, $13.3 the following, and Gay has a $14.3 million player option for the 2017-18 season. While Chandler Parsons and Gordon Hayward were busy locking up questionable max money deals, Sacramento inked Gay to a reasonable three-year extension that will carry him to his 32nd birthday. If the Kings could have won more games, Gay’s name would be almost completely rehabilitated after his stint with the Raptors.
His career-high 21.1 points per game placed him 12th overall in the NBA and second behind James among small forwards. The argument could be made that Gay was the best small forward in the NBA this season not named LeBron James. The duo has yet to get the Sacramento Kings into the playoffs, but it’s pretty clear they are not the problem. The 28-year-old high flyer is as smooth a player as there is in the league, and he’s a perfect compliment to DeMarcus Cousins. Whatever happened in Toronto is long behind Rudy Gay at this point.