For the second time in 2013, Rudy Gay will be joining a new team because of a trade. After being moved to the Toronto Raptors for Ed Davis, Hamed Haddadi and Jose Calderon (traded for Tayshaun Prince) at the end of January, this time new general manager Masai Ujiri traded Gay along with Aaron Gray and Quincy Acy to the Sacramento Kings for Greivis Vasquez, Patrick Patterson, Chuck Hayes and John Salmons.

For the Kings

In terms of the Kings, there are a few different angles which merit discussion. First, they effectively get an expensive trial period for Rudy Gay. The frustration so many of us have with Gay stems from the fact that he has athletic talent but it does not affect the game as positively as it should on both ends of the floor. I wrote when he was traded from Memphis that many had fallen in love with the idea of Rudy Gay rather than what he had become as a player and the only things that have changed since are his perception around some parts of the league and the fact that less time remains on his contract. Players with physical talent can always have the lightbulb turn on, so that can be considered a positive even though he is paid like it has been on for years.

Interestingly, I think there is a better chance than some are accounting for that Gay opts out of his $19.3 million for next season for the security of a longer deal at a lower annual value. Given the weakness at the top of the market once LeBron James chooses a destination, he and his agent could feel someone will roll the dice with him in a panic after missing out on the most marketable free agents.

Unfortunately, if the silver lining of a trade without picks or salary benefits is that the primary player you are getting back might leave sooner, you did not do well. Usage Rate attempts to measure how many possessions a player “uses” per 100, using shots, assists, and turnovers. The Kings already had two players in the top 10 for usage this season in Isaiah Thomas and DeMarcus Cousins, both of whom have done pretty well so far.

Gay is actually tied with Thomas right now for seventh in that stat but turns the ball over more, assists less, and scores less effectively than Isaiah. This cannot be construed as an aberration since Gay had similar figures last season while playing 75 games. The usage rates of the top three Kings combine to an eye-popping 89.1 right now, an insanely high number that will obviously go down once they play together because it functionally cannot go any higher. Regardless, having a volume scorer who is not good at it takes away shots and possessions from better building blocks in Cousins and Thomas for no cogent reason. Some see the benefit of the deal as giving more minutes to Isaiah Thomas but that could have been done without trading Vasquez.

Fortunately for Sacramento, none of the pieces they gave up were tremendously valuable. While Grevis Vasquez was the returning piece in the Tyreke Evans sign-and-trade and Patrick Patterson the best thing that came to the team in the Thomas Robinson trade, both will be restricted free agents this summer. Typically that first round of free agency marks the transition from underpaid to properly paid when dealing with non-max players, even for RFA’s. The narrower time frame to match deals has taken some of the sting out of putting out an offer sheet though the Nikola Pekovic ordeal last summer showed that teams are still reticent.

That said, both Vasquez and Patterson have potential to be rotation players at minimum and Sacramento did not exactly have a ton of them in total on the roster before this trade besides at power forward assuming that is how one classifies Derrick Williams. The RFA process still scares off enough teams that one or both could get undervalued and then retained either to keep or move in a future deal. Losing Salmons and Hayes should not affect the team in any meaningful way, though Hayes having another year on his deal would mean savings if Gay opts out.

The other players Sacramento received may not provide a ton in value but could have some uses this season. Aaron Gray should eat some minutes at center behind Cousins, and Quincy Acy has the potential to help out in a pinch.

The biggest question for Sacramento is whether the trade will provide any long-term value to the team. The worst possible scenario I can think of is that somehow this time leads to another contract with Gay that pays him more than he is worth. If it does not work out and he leaves, they lost a few non-premium assets and some cap flexibility next year. If they think they solved their small forward problems and pass on a quality player in the draft or a trade, it looks even worse.

Grade for Kings: D+

For the Raptors

Similar to the Andrea Bargnani trade this summer, the biggest asset Toronto received in the trade was getting out from under an undesirable contract. While Gay could opt out and leave after this season, the rational fear had to be that the market would not bear out enough for him to decide before the moratorium that the risk was worth taking. Even with Chuck Hayes’ salary for 14-15, Toronto now has tons more financial flexibility in the near term. Having more space in 2014 means the Raptors can either pick up better fits via trade this summer or sign one reasonably priced piece to add another once more contracts come off the books in 2015. Jonas Valanciunas having two more seasons on his rookie deal gives management some time to get pieces together before he gets properly paid.

On top of that, moving Gay now allows them to evaluate DeMar DeRozan in a more normal system and potentially showcase his talents should Ujiri want to move him as well. It also should open up minutes for Terrence Ross while taking away a safety blanket that may have been costing minutes for Valanciunas. Losing Acy was not ideal but not crushing in any way either.

Getting lottery tickets in the form of Vasquez and Patterson only makes the trade better. While some worry about restricted free agency, their cases lend themselves to riskless transactions since Toronto can make them fair offers or just put a price in their own heads and then just see where it turns out. If some other team wants to overpay them, so be it. If the market collapses and the Raptors can keep them or use them in trades, all the better. Plus, the timing allows Toronto to use them as trade assets at the deadline should there be interest.

While it would have been nice to condense the shakier assets into fewer better ones (like they lost by trading Ed Davis in the original Rudy Gay deal), I doubt any offers including them were possible with the 2014 NBA Draft being so highly regarded by people around the league. Furthermore, the smaller return indicates a reduction in interest around the league which may also make Gay more likely to pick up his option which was the impetus for the trade in the first place.

Toronto gets a better look at the young talent that actually matters to their future while gaining more flexibility at a time they can actually use it with the possibility of two more interesting players. Well done.

Grade for Raptors: A-