Sacramento Kings Rumors: Team Reportedly Is Shopping Rudy Gay To Make Room For Rajon Rondo

The Sacramento Kings are a little dysfunctional right now (that may be putting it mildly).

Sacramento has not made the playoffs in the last nine years and have not topped the 30 win plateau the past seven seasons. The Kings have gone through seven coaches in the nine-year span — current head coach George Karl is the team’s eighth coach since they last made the playoffs.

Now, the Kings can’t decide whether to trade star center DeMarcus Cousins. Yesterday, Inquisitr reported that the Los Angeles Lakers were trying to formulate a three-team deal with the Orlando Magic and the Kings that would ultimately have Cousins ending up in Hollywood.

A few hours after the Cousins-to-Lakers rumor circulated, Sacramento owner Vivek Ranadive reiterated to USA Today that Cousins will not be traded anytime soon.

“We have zero interest in moving Cousins, so I don’t know where that’s coming from.” “But if you like, you should talk to (Kings vice president of basketball and franchise operations) Vlade (Divac), because I know Vlade feels exactly the same way. And I’m deferring to Vlade on everything. We have no interest in moving him. From my perspective, it’s really simple: we feel that he’s a one-of-a-kind player, and we have a group of players right now and we’re going to build on it.”

Divac previously told the Sacramento Bee that a Cousins trade “is not happening, but I would love to do something, a smaller move, before the draft.”

However, Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that Karl would prefer to have the team trade Cousins. Karl is reportedly trying to convert Divac to his side and convince some players to unite so they can present a case to Ranadive.

In addition to the Lakers, the Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics, and Denver Nuggets have expressed interest in Cousins.

While the Cousins saga isn’t likely to go away anytime soon, it appears that the Kings are very interested in making some roster moves.

The most recent rumor, per Wojnarowski, is that the Kings are trying to move Rudy Gay so that they have enough cap space to sign Rajon Rondo when free agency begins on July 1.

Sacramento is also considering trading the No. 6 overall pick along with “every other player currently on the roster” according to CBS Sports. The Kings are projected to have $8.6 million in cap space this summer as Gay’s three-year, $40-million contract extension kicks in this year.

The reason the Kings are interested in trading Gay is that they want to contend for a playoff spot this upcoming season, and trading Gay would give the Kings a lot off wiggle room financially for free agents. Also, Gay should have some quality value on the trade market as he is coming off a solid season

Gay averaged a career-high 21.1 points to go along with 5.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists. He shot 45.5 percent from the field and 35.9 percent from the three-point line.

(photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)