Atlanta Hawks unrestricted free agent Josh Smith met with Detroit Pistons general manager Joe Dumars at 12:01 a.m. ET Monday morning, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski. Dumars is planning on offering Smith a "substantial" four-year contract offer.
Josh Smith meets with Detroit Pistons to start free agency, according to report
The Pistons have made Josh Smith their top priority this offseason, and they met with the forward at the outset of free agency.
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The Hawks reportedly have shown more interest in moving Smith in a sign-and-trade deal rather than re-signing him to a long-term contract.
The Pistons could have nearly $29 million in cap room if they amnesty Charlie Villanueva and renounce Jose Calderon, although Wojnarowski reports that Detroit would like to re-sign Calderon. Calderon has a cap hold over $16 million, so if the Pistons want to keep him around, that cap hold cuts into the team's available cap space.
However, the Pistons would still have over $12 million in cap space to throw at Smith. Whether that would be enough to woo Smith remains to be seen, but if he went to Detroit, he would join an already talented young frontcourt featuring Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond. Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News says that the Pistons believe Smith can play both the 3 and 4.
In addition to meeting with Smith, Wojnarowski reports that Dumars is also going to meet with Denver Nuggets free agent Andre Iguodala on Monday.
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