As the Oklahoma City Thunder continue to take the necessary steps to becoming a power in the Western Conference, they've had a somewhat busy offseason. They signed head coach Mark Daigneault to a contract extension after he finished second in the NBA's Coach of the Year voting. They signed Euroleague star Vasilije Milic, added Jack White from the champion Denver Nuggets, brought back Victor Oladipo in a trade with the Miami Heat and brought in a trio of players in Rudy Gay, TyTy Washington Jr. and Usman Garuba in a trade with the Houston Rockets. Facing a roster crunch of guaranteed contracts, the Thunder made the decision to cut Rudy Gay following the Hawks trade as per Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have waived Rudy Gay, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 20, 2023
It's not that surprising that the Thunder would choose to make this move. After the trade with the Hawks, Rudy Gay appeared to be one of the players most likely to be caught in the Thunder roster crunch. With a team full of developing young players in need of minutes, Gay seemed the odd man out.
Gay finished last season with the Utah Jazz and has been traded two times this offseason. The first was when the Jazz traded him to the Hawks in the John Collins trade. The second was when the Hawks traded him to the Thunder in the Patty Mills trade. Gay played in 56 game for the Jazz last season in a little over 14 minutes per game. He averaged a career-low 5.2 points per game, 2.9 rebounds and 1.0 assists with splits of 38 percent shooting from the field, 25.4 percent shooting from the three-point line and 85.7 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
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