The Detroit Pistons were unable to find a trade for Josh Smith and decided to release him on Monday. Assuming Smith clears waivers and becomes a free agent on Wednesday, his list of suitors reportedly includes the Dallas Mavericks, the Sacramento Kings, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Houston Rockets.
Smith and the Pistons haven't been able to make it work, and on Monday team president and coach Stan Van Gundy decided to cut ties and waive Smith. The Pistons will use the "Stretch Provision" to spread out Smith's remaining $26 million salary and pay it off over the next five years, which will give the team some cap relief.
If Smith clears waivers, as expected, ESPN's Marc Stein reported there would be a number of teams lined up to acquire the power forward.
Per Stein:
"ESPN sources say both Kings and Mavericks have interest in signing Josh Smith as a free agent if (when) he clears waivers Wednesday. ... Also hearing that the Los Angeles Clippers will make a run at Josh Smith, but Clips - like Mavs - have only minimum dollars to offer. ... Rockets, I'm told, are in fact-finding mode and weighing whether to make a Josh Smith run too. Too early to say if they're in or out."
NBA.com's David Aldridge also reported Sacramento and Houston would likely pursue Smith as a free agent.
Sacramento will likely be frontrunner to land Smith. The team has been linked to him since the summer, and they purportedly made a number of offers to Detroit for Smith in June and July, all of which were rebuffed by Van Gundy, who wanted to give Smith a shot.
Smith's production declined after signing a four-year deal with Detroit in in July 2013, seemingly the result of an inability to mesh on the court with big men Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe. Smith is averaging 13.1 points and 7.2 rebounds this season.
