It appears Rudy Gay did not enjoy his time in Toronto.
The Raptors traded for him back in January of 2013. They gave up Jose Calderon and Ed Davis to acquire him from the Memphis Grizzlies. Unfortunately, the Raptors vision of Gay playing alongside Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan never panned out. And on top of that Gay never wanted to go to Toronto.
He was recently on 7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony & Kid Mero and ripped Toronto:
“It ain’t my fault y’all traded me man, I ain’t have no control over that, If I did I damn sure wouldn’t go to Toronto. You think I wanted to go to Toronto…. If I wanted to get traded, why the f*ck would I go to Toronto.”
Gay’s tenure in Toronto didn’t last long. He was traded away by Toronto in December of 2013 in a deal that would set up the Raptors for their greatest decade in franchise history. Toronto shipped Gay to the Sacramento Kings along with Aaron Gray and Quincy Acy in exchange for John Salmons, Greivis Vasquez, Patrick Patterson, and Chuck Hayes.
This trade was supposed to start a teardown in Toronto, but instead it led to the Raptors changing the entire trajectory of their franchise.
The Raptors were 6-12 with Gay to start the 2013-14 season before trading him. The Raptors then caught fire and finished the season 48-34 clinching their first playoff berth in five seasons.
Toronto then made seven straight playoff appearances and won the 2018-19 NBA Championship. All of this coming after the Gay trade.
Gay’s career after Toronto
Gay didn’t have much success for the rest of his career after his departure from the Raptors.
He made the playoffs just twice following his Raptors tenure and he never made it out of the first-round of the playoffs. Gay spent time with the Kings, San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz before retiring from the league in 2023.
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