D'Alessandro discussed Gay's pending decision on whether to opt out of his contract next season (which would pay him $19.3 million) at a media luncheon in downtown Sacramento on Tuesday. The general manager, who now has a full season with the Kings under his belt, said one of the strategies all along with the talented small forward was to trade for him before he had to make the big decision and give him some time to get to know Sacramento and the culture of the organization. This all in hopes that it would be enough to impact the outcome.

"There was a strategy and I was very upfront with that with Rudy, ‘you are going to get to know us.' So I have no problem saying this – there was a strategy in getting a Rudy Gay now and letting him see who we are and making it really hard for him, and that's what we tried to do," D'Alessandro said. "He says he enjoyed the experience. So it was a year for us to recruit a player that was already ours. Otherwise you get those two days at the beginning of free agency where everyone's running in and it's harder to sell."

The team's staff, the various neighborhoods in Sacramento, Vivek Ranadive's NBA 3.0 vision – it was all part of "recruiting" Gay this season. D'Alessandro, who was candid and conversational with the media at Tuesday's lunch affair, looks forward to the day when the new downtown arena is open and it can be used as the major recruiting tool to lure players to the small market that is Sacramento.

"Right now, we don't have our arena. We don't have the things that I feel like we need to really go after guys. But this was a chance for him [Gay] to get to know us," D'Alessandro said. "I feel good about his feeling for us."

Gay, of course, can either stay and collect his $19.3 million next season; opt out and become a free agent and/or try to get a long-term deal with the Kings (or another team). He gave two-sided answers to questions about which way he was leaning all season, but in February he did tell Sactown Royalty that Sacramento "could be a good home" for him. He also put up some of the best numbers of his career with the Kings.

Gay has until June 30 to decide his path moving forward. D'Alessandro said he doesn't know when Gay plans to make his decision, but that in general, players wait until the deadline.

The Kings would have the opportunity to match any offer another team may extend to Thomas. D'Alessandro praised Thomas for being classy and a hard worker, in addition to the stellar numbers he put up both off the bench and as a starter last season.

When asked if he has the money to play with in order to retain players and build, D'Alessandro said jokingly Vivek Ranadive would have to answer that, but expressed confidence.

"He [Vivek] went out and got Rudy Gay and he didn't do that with the idea of saving money and I appreciate that there's no handcuffs on us here and our ownership group has been very upfront about that, they want to win," D'Alessandro said.

The Kings general manager fielded questions from members of the Sacramento media on various subjects throughout the luncheon. Here are some other takeaways.