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Josh Smith Hasn’t Played For Detroit In 5 Years, But Still Gets Paid By The Franchise

It seems like yesterday that we were watching a young, athletic, exciting prospect in Josh Smith fly through the air and electrify the Slam Dunk Contest. However, sadly and surprisingly those days are far behind him. Coming into the league with expectation and potential, Josh Smith’s fall from grace has been as dismal as we could have imagined.

After being selected 17th overall by the Atlanta Hawks, Smith was projected as being a cornerstone for the franchise for many years to come, and after starting off promisingly, it has all be downhill from that point. Since starting in Atlanta, he has bounced around the league, with stints in Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles and back again at the Rockets in Houston.

With things not working out in Atlanta, Smith entered the power struggle of patrolling the front court in Detroit alongside monster centre Andre Drummond. The Pistons had one of the biggest and most intimidating front courts in the league, however, many felt that Smith was hurting Drummond’s potential growth, by suffocating him in the paint. There wasn’t enough room for the both of them, which was the eventual reason the Pistons opted to stick with the upside of Drummond and offload Smith, a move which has improved the Pistons dramatically. It has turned out to be one of the best decisions their front office has made in recent years which has contributed to them entering the playoffs again.

After Detroit, there was murmurs Smith was a detriment to the locker room, and NBA teams feared that his lack of direction and erratic playing style would hurt franchises. He ended up transforming into one of the worst three point shooters the league has ever seen, but continued to take them anyway. He was stuck, with time evaporating Smith was already becoming an unwanted man. After the Pistons waived him in 2014, J-Smoove bounced around the league for a little longer, without finding any success.

But Smith, who has not played in the league since the 2017-2018 season (it was only for 4 games that year), is still getting some fat cheddar from the Pistons.

This season alone, the franchise is due to pay him $5.3 million, followed by another $5.3 million next season.