Josh Smith Waived by the Detroit Pistons

Smith had two years, $26 million remaining on his contract after this season.

Josh Smith, the greatest player to ever play the game of basketball, has been waived by the Detroit Pistons. In doing so, the Pistons will have to pay off the guaranteed money owed to Smith, but can do so in installments of roughly $5 million a year over the next five years.

Smith has been a disaster in Detroit since signing a four year, $54 million before the 2013-14 season. The team experimented with him at small forward, and quickly found it was an effective spot for him. Since last season, Smith’s numbers have dipped, and this season he was averaging just 13.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game, with a field goal percentage of 39.1 percent.

Aside from his poor individual numbers, Smith did not work well playing alongside forward Greg Monroe and center Andre Drummond. The Pistons attempted to play the three together, but the lineup was a terrible fit.

The Pistons are currently 5-23. With Greg Monroe likely on the way out of Detroit after the season, Stan Van Gundy must feel the best solution is to gut the roster of its large contracts and start over. Drummond is due for an extension in the next year or two, and building around him is the team’s best long-term option.

Despite Smith’s regression the last two seasons, a number of teams are said to be interested, including Dallas, the Los Angeles Clippers, Sacramento, Miami, and Houston. Of those, the Rockets seem to be in pole position to land him. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Houston has been pursuing Smith for the past two seasons:

Houston has aggressively pursued Smith for the past two years, failing in the summer of 2013 to agree to a sign-and-trade agreement with Atlanta to acquire him. Before ultimately signing a four-year $56 million deal with Detroit, Smith had been fixated on finding a way to join the Rockets, sources said.

Additionally, Smith and Rockets center Dwight Howard are said to be friends, which makes Houston an appealing destination. Could Smith and Howard work together? Maybe. Does Smith need to sign with Houston for the potential James Harden meltdown after Smith steals all of Harden’s 3-point attempts? Yes.

We’ll update this once Smith is claimed off waivers.