After all, the team was no longer set to pay the luxury tax, and the Grizz needed all the scoring they could get. And Rudy’s a scorer, right? In Memphis’ eyes? No. The team’s new front office has never been smitten with Gay’s work, taking plenty of shots to score a middling amount of points, while offering precious little else in terms of defense, rebounding, passing or putting opponents into the penalty. Even without the luxury-tax restrictions influencing movement, the two years and more than $37 million remaining on Rudy Gay’s contract
after this season is far too steep a price to pay for his production. If you’re going to make $17.88 million, as Rudy will next year, you should at least be averaging 17.88 points per game while shooting an acceptable percentage.