Mike Finger: Gay was the most perfect Spur who never quite was.
Forward was due $8.8M next season
Rudy Gay will once again hit the free agent market, this time in better condition.
Gay, 31, will decline his $8.8 million player option with the Spurs for the 2018-19 season and become an unrestricted free agent, league sources told the Express-News.
The move comes days after Kawhi Leonard has expressed his desire to be traded, as his relationship status with the Spurs remains unresolved following months of turmoil.
Gay played in 57 games with the Spurs, averaging 11.5 points and 5.1 rebounds last season.
Despite missing 23 games to recover from right heel bursitis, Gay did help the injuryplagued Spurs stay afloat in the Western Conference last season.
The Spurs envisioned Gay playing a prominent role when they signed the veteran forward last summer. The trio of Gay, Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge in the lineup was intriguing but never materialized due to Leonard’s absence.
"You have to applaud this team,” said Gay.
“We fought through a lot. Everybody had things they were dealing with, all the way up to Coach. We still found a way to bond together."
After returning to the lineup on Feb. 23 against the Denver Nuggets, Gay finished the season averaging 11.5 points and 5.0 rebounds, including a 21-point, three-rebound and two-steal performance in a win over the Houston Rockets on April 1.
Following that contest, Gay said “I’m starting to feel like myself,” regaining his form after months of rehabbing from a torn left Achilles tendon he suffered in May 2017.
With the team in need
of scoring, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich inserted Gay in the starting lineup in Game 2 of the first round series against Golden State Warriors. Gay averaged 12.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists in only his second postseason appearance of his career.
Now injury-free, Gay is planning to make adjustments over the next few months in hopes of fully returning to form by the start of training camp in September.
“I feel good going into the offseason knowing I can really perfect my game,” Gay said. "During the summer, I can really focus on being myself again.”
The Spurs can still re-sign Gay when he hits free agency on July 1. It would be a move similar to what occurred last summer with Pau Gasol, who also declined his player option only to sign a three-year, $48 million deal to stay with the Spurs.
Asked if he would like to return, Gay, who will turn 32 in August, responded: “After a season like this, it's hard not to want to come back and fight for a championship. I love these guys.”
With Gay deciding on his player option, the Spurs now await the decisions of guard Danny Green ($10 million player option) and forward Joffrey Lauvergne ($1.6 million player option). Green will more than likely decide on his future this week, league sources told the Express-News.