Sacramento Kings forward Rudy Gay is set to miss the rest of the NBA season due to injury. The ten-year veteran suffered a torn left Achilles tendon during Wednesday’s 106-100 loss to the Indiana Pacers. Gay’s season is likely over.
Rudy Gay Out for Season with Achilles Injury
The Kings say that an MRI revealed that forward Rudy Gay suffered a full rupture of the left Achilles' tendon.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) January 19, 2017
Gay, 30, has been a key player for the Kings this season. He has averaged 18.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game in 30 oontests. Gay has been crucial in the Kings playoff push, alongside All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins. Losing Gay while just 1.5 games back of the eighth seed is bad timing for the Kings, to say the least.
Gay was reportedly set to opt-out of his contract and hit free-agency this off-season. However, with this latest injury, Gay now has a difficult decision to make.
Yahoo‘s Adrian Wojnarowski noted the real impact of Gay’s injury:
Rudy Gay's torn Achilles will seriously change trade deadline and free agency. He planned to opt-out of $14.2M for 17-18. Complex choice now
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 19, 2017
Gay is huge loss for the Kings. According to the Sac Bee, Gay entered the locker room on crutches, wearing a walking boot. Teammate and headline maker Cousins had this to say on the Kings loss:
“That’s a tough thing to watch. It sucks for Rudy. This is a guy with a family, this is a guy with a career he deeply cares about. This was a big year for him obviously and it sucks that this is how it played out.”
In Gay’s absence, the Kings will likely be forced to start Matt Barnes. With normal back-up Omri Casspi out for at least one week, Barnes is the obvious next man up.
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