Courting free agents

Getting Rudy Gay to Oklahoma City would require some salary cap creativity.

So often, the Thunder’s moves are mysterious.

General manager Sam Presti is known for surprises, including the trade he agreed to last week that will bring All-Star Paul George to Oklahoma City, a move that went under the radar until an agreement was reached.

But OKC’s interest in Rudy Gay has gone public.

Gay, a free-agent forward who played the past four seasons for the Sacramento Kings, was in Oklahoma City over the weekend on a recruiting visit. Last October, The Vertical reported that OKC was in “serious talks” with the Kings on a trade involving Gay and then-Thunder point guard Cameron Payne.

The Thunder explores options with a wide range of available players. Gay might just be one of many, a player whose name happens to haveleaked.

OKC center Enes Kanter revealed Gay’s visit Saturday via social media, posting to Twitter a photo of a locker at the Thunder’s practice

facility with Gay’s nameplate attached, a typical recruiting prop.

And Gay might well be a long shot for Oklahoma City, which is over the salary cap and currently can offer Gay only a mid-level exception of no more than $8.4 million. That amount would trigger a hard salary cap of $125 million the Thunder could not exceed in 2017-18. He opted out of the final year of a contract with the Kings that would have paid him $14.2 million.

So getting Gay to Oklahoma City would require some salary cap creativity — or some cooperation, perhaps, from Sacramento on a sign and trade. Both options have proved challenging for the Thunder.

But it’s clear OKC has interest in Gay and has for some time. What’s the appeal?

He’s a scorer

In his 11-year NBA career, Gay has averaged 18.4 points per game. He’s averaged double-digit scoring every season and other than his rookie season, he’s never scored fewer than 17.2 a game.

His scoring ability was the obvious draw for Oklahoma City last fall, when the Thunder was coming off the loss of Kevin Durant in free agency. At 6-foot8, Gay is a wing scorer with good size, and the Thunder built its team to have one.

But now OKC has Paul George. Why the continued interest in Gay?

He offers versatility

Taj Gibson’s move to Minnesota — he agreed Sunday to a two-year contract with the Timberwolves — could signal a Thunder pivot at power forward.

Of the Thunder’s returning players, Jerami Grant is perhaps the most likely to move into the starting role.

Gibson started all five games of the Thunder’s first-round playoff loss to the Rockets and averaged 23.7 minutes per game. But Grant played nearly as many minutes (22.1) off the bench as Oklahoma City contended with the Rockets’ small, spreadpick-and-roll lineups.

The NBA is moving in that direction, and the Thunder likely will move with it, giving Doug McDermott more minutes at power forward this season.

Gay primarily has played small forward in his career — about 77 percent of his minutes, according to basketballreference.com — but he’s spent 28 percent of his court time at power forward the past two seasons.

Last fall, Gay told The Sacramento Bee that “you have to be able to play multiple positions, and I still want to see myself as a guy who can do that.” He said playing power forward was “fine,” as long as his role at the position was defined.

He’s (potentially) available

There are drawbacks to Gay, who turns 30 in August. He’s coming off an Achilles injury in January that ended his season. He’s inconsistent defensively. The two teams that have traded him during his career, Memphis and Toronto, improved when he left.

But as either a starter or reserve, Gay can provide some scoring punch, and for a year now, he’s been available, either via trade or free agency.

Gay will have other suitors. He met with the Clippers on Monday and was impressed by their presentation, the Los Angeles Times reported, and the Thunder’s financial constraints will make getting him to Oklahoma City challenging.

But both parties have interest, and — though we typically don’t see them coming — Presti has been known to pull off moves that seem difficult.