Retired - Retired after 2018 season
- Birthdate: 12/05/1985
- Drafted (NBA): 17th pick, 2004
- Pre-draft team: Oak Hill Academy
- Country: USA
- Hand: Left
- Agent: -
| Date | League | Transaction |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 NBA Draft | NBA | Drafted 17th overall by Atlanta. |
| 12th July, 2004 | NBA | Signed four year, $6,339,623 rookie scale contract with Atlanta. Included team option for 2007/08. |
| 28th August, 2006 | NBA | Atlanta exercised 2007/08 team option. |
| 8th August, 2008 | NBA | Signed a five year, $58 million offer sheet with Memphis. |
| 8th August, 2008 | NBA | Atlanta matched Memphis's offer sheet. |
| 10th July, 2013 | NBA | Signed a four year, $54 million contract with Detroit. |
| 22nd December, 2014 | NBA | Waived by Detroit. |
| 26th December, 2014 | NBA | Signed a $2,077,000 contract for the remainder of the season with Houston. |
| 16th July, 2015 | NBA | Signed a guaranteed one year minimum salary contract with L.A. Clippers. |
| 22nd January, 2016 | NBA | Traded by L.A. Clippers, along with the draft rights to Maarty Leunen, to Houston in exchange for the draft rights to Sergei Lischuk and cash, |
| 9th November, 2016 | China | Signed a three month contract with Sichuan Blue Whales. |
| 3rd February, 2017 | China | Left Sichuan Blue Whales. |
| 28th October, 2017 | NBA | Signed an unguaranteed minimum salary contract for the remainder of the season with New Orleans. |
| 10th November, 2017 | NBA | Waived by New Orleans. |
| June 2004 - June 2013 | Atlanta Hawks (NBA) |
| July 2013 - December 2014 | Detroit Pistons (NBA) |
| December 2014 - June 2015 | Houston Rockets (NBA) |
| July 2015 - January 2016 | L.A. Clippers (NBA) |
| January 2016 - June 2016 | Houston Rockets (NBA) |
| November 2016 - February 2017 | Sichuan (China) |
| October 2017 - November 2017 | New Orleans Pelicans (NBA) |
September 30, 2013
Josh Smith – Detroit Pistons
As with most of the players on this list, it is not necessarily the price paid so much as it is the purposelessness of paying it. Detroit, like Charlotte, has to pay an invisible tax (manifested through inflated contracts) to attract free agents. This is a reality that has to be accepted and which can add as much as 30 percent to a player’s price. And it has seemingly done so here.
However, if Detroit is going to be forced to overpay for someone, it should do so on someone who coexists with the good core they are building. Smith has well established strengths and flaws, and it is long known by this time that he plays best as a power forward. Barring injuries, however, he will not be able to do so much. The Pistons already are, or should be, committed to making the Greg Monroe/Andre Drummond partnership work, and any hypothesis that Smith can harmoniously coexist with this while splitting time at the small forward positions is a deliberately optimistic one. The coveted free agent, then, will be immediately put out of position. This problem also mustn’t overshadow the problems of paying $13.5 million to a player who cannot make a shot outside of three feet, but who never seems to know it.
Detroit acted strong and decisively in free agency, but in doing so, they overpaid for someone with no remaining upside and scant few other suitors who clogs up a depth chart at a position where it was already well catered for. It could be a Ben Gordon situation all over again. The saving grace is that Smith should be far more tradeable.