Having withstood a season-ending Achilles injury in his last of three seasons with the Sacramento Kings, Rudy Gay has been cleared to play and is ready to get the wheels rolling with his new team, the San Antonio Spurs.
Gay opted out of a potential $14.2 million salary with the Kings in order to play for a contender, ultimately reaching a one-and-one, $17.2 million deal with the Spurs — taking a beefy pay cut to make winning his priority.
“Looking at my career, it’s just time to win,” Gay told ESPN's Michael C. Wright. “That’s what it’s mostly about. I’ve been in this league for a little while now, and I haven’t gotten out of my career what I wanted. Coming to a place like San Antonio, it just seemed perfect for me.”
The 6-foot-8 swingman has been ramping up activities and getting back into basketball shape, with the start of the regular season now coming earlier than previously expected. Gay was optimistic about his rehabilitation schedule.
“It’s great,” he said. “I actually worked out today. I’m fully cleared to do everything. I’m fine now. The team, it has its own planning with me. But I’m ready to go. I’ll definitely be ready by camp.”
While most have deemed Gay as an isolation scorer — a far cry from what San Antonio has preached during the many years of success the organization now boasts — the 30-year-old believes that his versatility is the reason he was brought to this championship-caliber organization.
“Yeah, we’ve talked,” said Gay about his new coach Gregg Popovich. “The game is changing a lot. It’s all about positional basketball. The more guys that can play different positions, the better. So that’s pretty much it. There’s not too much to talk about. You have your teams like Golden State, Houston, who all have guys that are switchable. I think I can bring that to this team.”
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