San Antonio Spurs in contract years: forward Rudy Gay

After a solid first season with the San Antonio Spurs, Rudy Gay re-signed to a one year deal this summer. Will he remain in San Antonio after this season?

Rudy Gay was coming off of a season-ending Achilles injury at 31 years old when the San Antonio Spurs signed him to a two-year contract in the summer of 2017 with a player option for the second season.

Gay appeared in 57 games last year scoring 11.5 points in 21.6 minutes per night with a player efficiency rating of 18.0 and a solid true shooting percentage of 54.5%.

Gay played some sound defense and grabbed 5.1 rebounds per game to go along with his offensive contributions.

The 12-year veteran could have picked up the player option on his contract for $8.8 million, but he decided to become an unrestricted free agent and re-signed to a one-year contract with a $1.2 million raise at an even $10 million salary.

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Gay just turned 32 years old this summer, but he should be even more effective than he was last year as he’s had another full offseason to gain some confidence in the recovery of his Achilles.

April was Gay’s best month last season where he scored 15 points in 23.2 minutes per game with a true shooting percentage of 59%, 5 rebounds per game, and 8 total steals. Granted, a six-game month is not a large sample size, but it may have shown that Gay was hitting his stride as he got healthier.

The Spurs could be relying on him pretty heavily this year as he is clearly their third most accomplished scorer behind DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge.

It remains to be seen whether Gay will have a bounce back year after a healthy offseason or if his game continues to decline as he ages.

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San Antonio gave him a one-year “prove it” deal as they try to figure out what end of the spectrum Gay will end up on.

I am bullish on Rudy Gay heading into this season, and I think he will earn another contract extension from the Spurs in 2019.