It appears the Hawks are engaged in trade talks for their enigmatic forward, Josh Smith:
Multiple rival executives confirmed that the Hawks have participated in trade conversations with several teams regarding Smith, a 27-year-old game-changing defender when engaged.
The Hawks face a dilemma with Smith, whose love-hate relationship with playing his entire NBA career thus far in his hometown of Atlanta will be put to the ultimate test if the Hawks continue to struggle. Smith’s $13.2 million falls off the Hawks’ books after the season, into an already massive abyss of cap space that the team has cleared to revamp the roster after trading high-priced All-Star Joe Johnson to the Nets.
Teams with such room and flexibility — including the likes of the Cavaliers, Mavericks, Bucksand Jazz — are beginning to examine the potential free-agent options and reconsider their strategies. Unless Ferry were able to land either Paul or Howard this summer — a long shot in both cases, even though Howard, too, is from Atlanta — someone in his position might decide it’s best to parlay assets into players now.
Among the teams that would appeal to Smith are Dallas, Houston and Memphis, a league source told CBSSports.com.
Forget about it. He’s not getting traded to Boston.
But that didn’t stop me from messing around with the ESPN Trade Machine.
In case you’re wondering, a Rajon Rondo/Brandon Bass for Josh Smith/Jeff Teague deal works. So does Jeff Green/Brandon Bass/Avery Bradley for Smith.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
