All day long Wednesday we were saying it could happen, now the deal is reached and approved — Rudy Gay is headed to Toronto as part of a three-team deal.
The trade also involves the Pistons as the third team and Tayshaun Prince going to Memphis in a deal that sends Jose Calderon to Detroit. The trade was reported by Marc Stein of ESPN and echoed by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports and the NBC Sports Network (technically this is a two team trade followed by a second trade between Memphis and Detroit). The parties spoke to the league office starting at 7 p.m. and the official approval has come down.
After every move is made this is how the trade would shake out:
• Toronto would get Rudy Gay and back up center Hamed Haddadi (he may be waived and bought out).
• Memphis would get Tayshaun Prince, Austin Daye and Ed Davis. (Some reports say they also get a second round pick.)
• Detroit would get Jose Calderon.
Toronto gets its guy in Rudy Gay and his 17.2 points and 5.9 rebounds a game... except they already have DeMar DeRozan. Gay will be their best player, but he’s not at a position of need nor is he a franchise anchor guy. As it has long been with Bryan Colangelo in Toronto, I struggle to see what the bigger picture is, I just see a collection of parts. Maybe this is the first of several moves to shake up the roster (if they can trade Andrea Bargnani to anyone for anything I’ll applaud the move).
I like this move for Memphis — it saves them money — $5.8 million this season and $26.4 million over the course of Gay’s contract — getting them under the luxury tax line in future years. Plus it gives them a player in Prince that fits well for them as a replacement for Gay. Prince is not as good an all-around player as Gay, but he’s a better three-point shooter and is not a massive step down on defense of driving the lane. In addition they get a quality young four in Ed Davis to provide depth up front and Daye.
Detroit will save a lot of money when Calderon comes off the books next year and they can be a major player in the free agent market. Brandon Knight will likely start getting a lot of time at the two.
“Trading a player like Tayshaun Prince, who has meant so much to our organization and contributed to our championship success, is never easy,” Pistons GM and president Joe Dumars said in a statement. “We want to thank Tayshaun for his professionalism and contributions over the last 10 years. We also appreciate everything that Austin Daye has done for our team both on and off the court over the past three-plus years.”