Former NBA player Rudy Gay believes that the Memphis Grizzlies LeBron James and the Miami Heat would have prevented from winning back-to-back titles in 2013, Memphis had never exchanged him.
Rudy Gay says that Grizzlies would have defeated warmth
During an appearance on the “From the mud” Podcast, Gay said that the Grizzlies would have defeated the heat in the NBA Finals 2013 if he was not traded in the midst of the 2012-2013 season.
“With all due respect for that team, they won the championship, but I don’t think they could have beat us that year,” Gay said. “The year that I was traded. I think that was the year. That was our year.”
Gay arrived in Memphis in 2006 after a migration day trade between the Grizzlies and the Houston Rockets. In the 6-foot-8 wing, the team of a team went under .500 in the Western Conference to a title candidate in 2012.
The Grizzlies went 41-25 in the Lockout-colored season 2011-12 and assured the fourth seed in the west. They would eliminate the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the play -offs in seven games.
Memphis could not afford gay more
During the low season of 2010, Memphis Gay had offered a five -year contract $ 82 million. Gay had rejected an offer of five years, $ 50 million in the previous season and became a limited free agent.
Although it seemed the perfect deal at that time, the contract ultimately led to his trade. The Grizzlies had to throw a salary in 2013 to prevent a luxury tax hit, so Gay was the strange man.
The WCF made the WCF that Grizzlies team, even after Rudy Gay was traded on the deadline … It is not surprising to think. They were a heavy matchup for Miami. pic.twitter.com/6tl9i4m4e8
– Soft (@nbamyk) September 5, 2025
Gay earned $ 16.5 million in 2012-13 and had $ 37 million more in the next two years of his deal. It was too much for the new owner Robert Pera, who took over the franchise in October 2012.
Eventually Gay was traded on the Toronto Raptors as part of a three-team with the Detroit Pistons.
Gay was an average of 17.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.7 blocks per game for the season at the time of the trade.
Rudy Gay led Grizzlies in scoring
After the trade, Memphis was led by Marc Gasol, the NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and Zach Randolph, who shoot an average of 15.4 points at 46% from the field to go with 11.2 rebounds per game.
Not only was Gay the leading scorer of the Grizzlies at the time, but Memphis is also in fourth place in the west with a record of 29-15. Without the UConn product, Memphis 27-11 went the rest of the road to complete the 56-26 season.
The Grizzlies were the fifth seed that came in the play -offs, and they threw their loss of 2012 by beating the clippers in six games in the first round.
Memphis had never won four consecutive postsease matches before this series. The Grizzlies only became the 10th team in the NBA history and then won four in a row after a backlog of 0-2-the first, who all won four with double digits.
The Grizzlies then eliminated Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games to set up an interesting matchup with the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals.
Spurs wiped Grizzly’s in the final of the Western Conference
San Antonio had lost in the first round in 2011 to the Grizzlies in six games, but it managed to wipe them in 2013. The Spurs then lost to the heat in seven games in the NBA Finals.
The Grizzlies also fired head coach Lionel Hollins at the end of the season.
It is difficult to say for sure whether Gay and the Grizzlies Miami would have defeated in the final of 2013. Several teams did not succeed in beating a LeBron James-guided team in a seven-game series during his first years.
Memphis, however, surprised many when it dominated the heat in the first meeting between the two teams that season, a routing 104-86 on the FedExforum on November 11, 2012.
Wayne Ellington led the Grizzlies in scoring with 25 points from the bank in that regular season matchup, while Gay 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists had 37 minutes of action.
Needless to say, the play -offs are a completely different animal.
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