The Sacramento Kings brass traveled to Oakland Tuesday night to watch franchise cornerstone DeMarcus Cousins suit up for Team USA at Oracle Arena. Sitting courtside, just feet away from former Kings guard Seth Curry and his father, Dell Curry, sat the duo of Vlade Divac and Vivek Ranadivé.
While Ranadivé stepped out for half time refreshments, Divac, wearing his Kings purple, stuck around to socialize with old friends and field a couple of questions about Cousins as well as small forward Rudy Gay.
Divac played cat and mouse, initially saying that he hadn't heard Gay's comments. Once informed of what the veteran wing had told the media, Divac weighed in.
"He has my number," Divac told CSN California. "If I do something, I will call him. Obviously, if I didn't call him, we didn't do anything."
[HAM: Gay wants consistency, Kings 'don't have that here, at all']
In case you missed it, Gay went public on Monday with his frustrations over the uncertainty surrounding his future with the team and the current direction of the franchise.
"I think it's pretty obvious what situation is going on here," Gay told Sactown Royalty. "At this point in my career, I think I want some kind of consistency and we don't have that here, at all."
Divac has restructured the Kings roster in the offseason, bringing in eight new faces via the draft and free agency. Sources have confirmed that the Kings are shopping Gay and the team has fielded plenty of calls, but they have yet to find a deal that makes sense for the team.
The Kings GM has spoken with his small forward on this subject in the past and has nothing new to report. Divac has been on both sides of the table as both a player and now and an executive and he understands the frustration of being in limbo. But he also has a job to do.
"Look, I was a player, 16-17 years in the league, nobody called me everyday and tell me what management is doing," Divac said. "Management was doing their job. If something big happened, they called and told me. Obviously, nothing big happened (so) I'm not going to call anybody."
When asked whether the Kings' roster is set so far, the 7-footer kept his cards close to the vest. He is working the phones trying to do what's best for his team and be it Gay or Kosta Koufos or Ben McLemore, Divac is looking for value in return, not a salary dump.
"There's always room to improve," Divac said. "I'm happy for now, but down the road, we're always trying to improve."
Gay, 29, is under contract with the Kings at $13.3 million this season and he has a player option for the 2017-18 season for $14.3 million.
