Report: Suns, Bucks, Nets leaders in Josh Smith sweepstakes

If it appears two things are certain following the trade deadline now — Lakers fans will complain (because they always do) and Josh Smith will be in another uniform.

The question now seems to be “where will Josh Smith play the rest of this season?”

Followed by, “what about next season?”

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports updates us on the first question.

Among teams and officials involved in Josh Smith talks, the three most likely destinations right now: Brooklyn, Milwaukee and Phoenix.—
Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) February 20, 2013

The Bucks are interesting in that the early talk had Monta Ellis and his expiring deal coming back to Atlanta, which is an interesting fit for half a season next to Jeff Teague. The Hawks may or may not be able or want to re-sign Ellis this summer, what really matters in making that deal work is what other picks and parts are in the deal to entice Atlanta. Chris Broussard of ESPN suggested the Bucks were trying to come up with a deal where they kept Ellis and Brandon Jennings to pair with Smith, but that seems unlikely. And Milwaukee couldn’t re-sign all three of those free agents next summer to the deals they expect.

For the Bucks, who already are going to have to give Jennings a big pay raise this summer, with or without Ellis can they afford Josh Smith, too? Would they give him a max or near max deal? Would he take it and stay? All really good questions that have to weigh on any decision.

The Nets have always seemed to be the Hawks fallback, getting Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks and a pick. Getting Brooks and the pick is nice, no way they really want Humphries, who is set to make $12 million next season, you can bet Ferry would be looking to flip him this summer.

The Suns may be the most interesting package for the Hawks. Phoenix has a stockpile of picks and some young players they can throw in, plus they have Marcin Gortat. A trade of Gortat, Markieff Morris and P.J. Tucker plus picks works salary wise. And for the Hawks, they get a solid, true center in Gortat that lets Al Horford move to his more natural four spot.

But can the Suns keep Smith? They have the cap room to sign him to a massive deal, and they need a star to anchor that franchise. The questions are would he take it and is he really the star the Suns want to gamble on as an anchor?

We’ll see. The only sure thing is Smith is going to be on the move.