Rumored Josh Smith to Detroit Pistons trade hits the airwaves

Posted by Dave Dial July 21, 2008 09:48AM

There has been a lot of speculation on the internet, from various websites that cover the NBA, about a possible sign and trade of Josh Smith to the Detroit Pistons, one reason being that Smith does not want to play for the Atlanta Hawks and wants to be traded. The local media, especially Detroit's sports radio personalities, are talking about rumors of the Smith trade they are hearing from their sources. The national media, Stephan A. Smith, is telling his audience of a possible trade that would bring Tracy McGrady to the Pistons.
Drew Sharp told listeners of 97.1 last week of a trade and a signing that he has heard rumors about. The sign and trade would go like this, Detroit sends Tayshaun Prince and Amir Johnson to the Atlanta Hawks for Josh Smith. Sharp also told listeners that if the Lakers did not match the offer Golden State gave to Ronny Turiaf, the Pistons might be able to sign Andris Biedrins for the Mid-Level Exception. The Lakers have since declined to match the offer for Turiaf.
There have been other members of the media to write about the Pistons' interest in Smith, so it's a good bet that there is something there. But the scenario that Mr. Sharp gave would be impossible to happen. It does not work within the NBA's collective bargaining agreement.
There is a complication in any sign and trade with Smith because he immediately becomes a Base Year Compensation, or BYC, player. From the NBA Salary Cap FAQ:

One complication with sign-and-trade deals is that the signed player can immediately become a BYC player (see question number 73 for more information on BYC), so the player's BYC value must be used when determining whether the trade is allowed.

With question number 73 explaining what the BYC value actually means:

Base year compensation (BYC) prevents another salary cap loophole. Without BYC, a team over the salary cap that wants to trade a player, but can't because of the Traded Player exception (which says teams can't take back more than 125% of the salary they trade away), could just sign the player to a new contract that fits within the desired range, then do the trade. BYC says "if you re-sign a player and give him a big raise, then for a period of time his trade value will be lower than his actual salary." BYC defines the salary that's used to compare players for compliance under the Traded Player exception (see question number 68 for more information about the Traded Player exception). Usually the salary used for comparison is the player's actual salary. But under either of the following circumstances, a different salary is used when comparing salaries for trading purposes:
* The team is over the salary cap, used the Larry Bird or Early Bird exception to re-sign the player, and the player received a raise greater than 20% (unless it's the minimum salary).
* The team is over the salary cap, it extended the player's rookie scale contract, and the player received a raise greater than 20%.
If either of the above apply, then the player is considered a base year player. A player remains a base year player for six months, or until June 30, whichever comes later. When trading a base year player, the salary used for comparison is the player's previous salary, or 50% of the first-year salary in his new contract, whichever is greater.

The rumor that Mr. Sharp told us about had Josh Smith starting at a salary of 12 million dollars. Under the rules of the CBA, Smith becomes a BYC player immediately and his contract in any sign and trade becomes worth half of that(6 million, because that is half of his first years salary and a higher figure than his salary last season).
Which means that since Atlanta is over the salary cap, they can only take back salaries that are with 25% plus $100,000 of 6 million dollars. While the Pistons also being over the cap would have to send out contracts that equaled at least 8.9 million dollars. Tayshaun Prince is making 9.5 million and Amir Johnson is making 3.6 million, totaling over 13.1 million dollars. There is no way for that trade to work without including a third team, other exceptions, or other players.
Add that to the thought of Golden State not matching an offer of the Mid-Level for Biedrins, and you have to get the impression that Sharp got his information from a bad source. It is hard to imagine the Warriors not matching any offer Biedrins receives. Of course his source could have told him only the principles in what would be a trade and not the details. Rob Parker has also mentioned the possibility of a sign and trade with Atlanta involving Josh Smith. Where there is smoke, there is usually fire.
Stay tuned

If something happens, I'll have to change my sig. Not the Derrick Rose part.

I think this kind of puts things in perspective with Josh - it would be nearly impossible to pull this off.

Also, looks like Atlanta pissed off Childress as well:

Childress weighing offer from Greek team - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

Mik, I ws just about to post this link . How screwed up is the Atl franchise. Make some frigging offers for crying out loud. Gotta think that Joe Johnson will be ready to go real soon, that is a JOKE of an org. JoeD has never had an issue with this, remember Flip lost Ben, not Joe.

If Drew Sharp is passing on rumors of trades that don't even work, this tells me that Drew has no clue what he is talking about.

I don't know. Maybe he was just reporting what the Hawks asked for in exchange for Smith.

If there's a way to get him for Tay & Amir, I'm all for it.

To get who? If they are base-year players, you'd have to match 1/2 of the salary, but get full hit against salary cap. It won't work.

It works if the Pistons or a third team involved holds a trade exception.

At one time Joe had one. I'm uncertain if it expired, though I'm fairly certain it wasn't used.