NBA Trade Rumors: Latest Buzz on Rudy Gay, Nikola Vucevic and More
While most NBA fans are all snug in their beds, executives for their favorite teams are still working the phones in an effort to find the right trades.
If reports are to be trusted, the Orlando Magic have been particularly busy of late. It looks like they've taken (or placed) calls regarding the Sacramento Kings' Rudy Gay. And two of their current players, Nikola Vucevic and Elfrid Payton, may not be long for the Orlando pinstripes.
Most of the NBA's holiday cheer will come in the form of the slate of games on Christmas Day but if any of the above materializes into a deal, we'll have plenty more to talk about.
Rudy Gay on the Magic?
Gay might as well buy property in this space. He seems to show up here at least once a week. What's new this time is the team connected to him.
According to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, that team is Orlando:
After what could generously be described as a curious offseason for the Magic, it looks like they're now scrambling to recover from the addition of two centers to a frontcourt that already housed Vucevic and Aaron Gordon.
Flipping someone from the stable of bigs, which includes newcomers Serge Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo, for Gay would make some sense for the Magic.
With the exception of Evan Fournier, they don't have much of a go-to scorer, and even he's never produced points at the rate Gay has throughout his career.
Orlando Ready to Move On from Nikola Vucevic and Elfrid Payton?
With Orlando off to another sub-.500 start, the front office doesn't appear sold on the young core it built together over the last few years. And one of those younger players could be dangled in an attempt to land someone like Gay.
In an appearance on the podcast of ESPN.com's Zach Lowe, The Lowe Post, ESPN's Brian Windhorst said, "Orlando wants to trade Nikola Vucevic too, and they’re kind of done with Elfrid Payton."
Lowe added that a lot of the friction that led to Scott Skiles' sudden resignation this past summer revolved around whether Payton was the point guard the team should move forward with.
Now a few months into 2016-17, it looks like the front office may finally be coming around to Skiles' point of view, if Windhorst's comment is to be believed.
