Rudy Gay wants out of Sacramento, and the Kings attempted to grant his request to be traded, but those plans fell through after the player the Kings wanted in exchange suffered an injury.
Per Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, the Kings were “seriously engaged” with the Thunder on a deal for second-year point guard Cameron Payne that would’ve included Gay, but negotiations stalled after Payne broke his foot during a scrimmage in September.
This deal would’ve made sense for both teams, as the Kings want a young point guard and the Thunder are looking to replace Kevin Durant at small forward.
A first-round pick in 2015, Payne averaged 12.2 minutes over 57 games as the backup to Russell Westbrook. He is expected to be ready for training camp after having foot surgery, per Anthony Slater of the Oklahoman. Meanwhile, Gay averaged 17.2 points and 6.5 rebounds in 70 games last season.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
