Gay, Afflalo will not play for Kings against Blazers

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SACRAMENTO -- Rudy Gay was noticeably missing from the locker room following the Sacramento Kings victory Monday night over the Philadelphia 76ers. He wasn’t on the practice facility floor on Tuesday afternoon either and now we know why.

The 28-year-old forward re-aggravated his strained right hip flexor late in the win over Philadelphia and has been ruled out for Wednesday night’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers.

A precautionary MRI came back clean and he will be listed as day-to-day moving forward, the Kings announced.

Gay had missed the previous six games with the injury for Sacramento before returning to face Philly. He came up huge down the stretch for the Kings, scoring eight of his 17 points during the deciding fourth quarter. He chipped in nine rebounds as well, but he was in noticeable pain late in the game and came out of the game with 14.9 seconds remaining.

The 10-year NBA veteran is the Kings’ second leading scoring, posting 18.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.

Gay has already informed the Kings that he intends to opt out of his $14.3 million deal for next season and become a restricted free agent. If he is healthy come trade season, Sacramento will likely shop the smooth shooting wing so they don’t lose him for nothing in the offseason.

Arron Afflalo will miss his second straight contest with a strained right elbow. The veteran shooting guard has been in and out of the Kings rotation over the last two weeks, but before the injury, he had seen his minutes increase.

The 31-year-old wing injured himself late in the Kings’ win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday evening. He’s struggled in his first season in Sacramento, averaging just 7.2 points on 40.7 percent shooting from the field and 32.1 percent from 3-point range.

Afflalo signed a two-year, $25 million deal with the Kings over the summer, but Sacramento holds a team option for year two with a $1.5 million buyout.

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