Raptors Trade Rudy Gay to Kings in Exchange for Vasquez, Salmons, Hayes and Patterson

Who needs to wait for December 15th?

According to reports, the Toronto Raptors have traded Rudy Gay to the Sacramento Kings for a package of players. Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski first broke the news and indeed, it looks like another major piece of former Raptors' GM, Bryan Colangelo's empire, will be no more.

The deal has the Raps sending Gay, along with Aaron Gray and Quincy Acy to the Kings in exchange for point guard Greivis Vasquez, wing John Salmons, and forwards Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes.

While there's no player of Gay's talent coming back to Toronto in the deal, the move give the club a ton more financial flexibility as well as one of the league's top pick-and-roll point guards in Vasquez.  The Raptors worked out Patrick Patterson in the draft where they selected Ed Davis, and he should give the club some needed depth up front.  Salmons at one point was a do-it-all wing type and a solid perimeter defender but his stock has dropped in recent years and is likely viewed more as salary cap fodder.  And finally Chuck Hayes, while undersized at the forward position, will replace a lot of what Quincy Acy provided in terms of hustle and rebounding.

We'll be doing more in-depth posts on the trade in the coming days but from a bird's eye view, this trade is a win for Toronto as it removes Gay's salary, as well as his offensive stagnation.  I wouldn't even be surprised if the club improved in the wake of this move.

The next question then is, who's next on Masai Ujiri's chopping block?