Teams looking to find a common ground on the former Atlanta Hawk star.
The Sacramento Kings and Detroit Pistons have restarted talks that could send small forward Josh Smith out West.
Smith was traded to the Pistons from the Atlanta Hawks after nine season, to play alongside Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond in their promising, but raw, front court.
However, the experiment does not seem to have worked with the three not gelling well on the court and Smith’s field goal percentage continuing to nosedive.
In the past Smith has been accused of taking too many medium range shots as well as too many from beyond the arc for a player who does not excel in those areas of the court.
Last season Smith shot just 42 per cent from the floor, easily a year low for him in his 10-year career.
Initially talks between the teams for Smith centered around sending Jason Thompson and Derrick Williams or Jason Terry but that deal was never realised.
Another scenario centered around sending restricted free agent Greg Monroe to the Portland Trailblazers in a sign-and-trade, but when Portland landed Chris Kaman it took them out of the running.
Smith still has three years and $40.5 million left on his current contract and it could be argued that trying to add Smith to the front court of Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins is a risk.
But the Kings continue to talk to Detroit about a deal as they feel they wouldn’t have to give up any long-term pieces and in return, they get a defender to compliment the scoring of Gay and Cousins.
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