Oklahoma City Thunder Trade Rumors: Team Moving to Acquire Rudy Gay from Sacramento Kings

Dec 15, 2016 10:00 AM EST

With Rudy Gay about to enter free agency next year, it would be a smart move by the Sacramento Kings to trade him now. According to new reports, it seems the Indiana Pacers, Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder are interested in acquiring him.

But out of all these three teams, it seems the likely choice for the Kings would be to trade with the Thunder. As noted by NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski, even though Gay is drawing the attention of the Pacers and the Rockets, they currently do not have the necessary trade pieces to entice Sacramento in a deal.

"There's no question Oklahoma City," he said according to Real Gm. "Indiana has had interest in him. Houston has had some peripheral interest. I don't think they have the pieces to trade."

As for the Kings, Wojnarowski stressed that Sacramento has to move fast in addressing these interests for Gay since the trade deadline is fast approaching. Aside from that, it's probably safe to say that Gay has no intention of re-signing with the Kings especially given the tension that these two parties went through las season.

If the Kings wait until the free agency period, then they will most likely lose a star player without getting anything in return. In other words, not trading Gay now would be a bad business call for the Sacramento organization.

"The one player who is going to have to move between now and the trade deadline is Rudy Gay," Wojnarowski said. "I don't think the Kings can make the same mistake New Orleans made last year with Ryan Anderson. Ryan Anderson was pretty clear he was not going to re-sign there and they lost him for nothing."

If a trade between Sacramento and Oklahoma City does happen, watching Gay play with the Thunder would indeed be fascinating to see. After all, OKC is currently relying on Russel Westbrook to carry the team's offense, NESN reported. He's been playing his A-game ever since Kevin Durant left the team to sign with the Golden State Warriors.

With Gay in the Thunder lineup, the team will be able to alleviate some of the pressure on Westbrook, allowing the organization to avoid overworking their superstar.

Also, given the way these two athletes have been playing, getting Gay to OKC could turn the Thunder into somewhat of a super team.