Report: Hawks pulled out of trade at the last minute that would have sent Josh Smith to the Bucks

As it turned out, the biggest name to be dealt before Thursday’s trade deadline passed was Rudy Gay, whom the Grizzlies sent to Toronto in a deal that was completed three weeks ago.

It was supposed to be Josh Smith.

Leading up to the 12 p.m. ET deadline, all signs pointed to Smith being the highest-profile player to be traded, with Atlanta rumored to be knee-deep in talks with Brooklyn, Phoenix, and Milwaukee to try to get something done before losing Smith this summer when he enters unrestricted free agency.

The Hawks ultimately decided that they weren’t being offered enough in return for Smith’s services, and will play out the season with him on their roster. But a deal was apparently in place to send Smith to the Bucks, before Atlanta called it off at the last minute.

From Ric Bucher of CSNBayArea:

Source: Atlanta Hawks blow up deal at last minute that would’ve sent Josh Smith to Milwaukee.

Hawks would’ve received Ekpe Udoh, Luc Mbah-Moute, Beno Udrih and a protected No. 1 pick. Can’t imagine the Bucks are happy having invested so much time in trying to make it happen. Leaves big question now if Hawks can do better this summer.

It’s tough to blame Atlanta for backing out of this one. Despite the issues the team has with not wanting to sign Smith to a max contract this summer, this offer consisted of a bunch of questionable spare parts that don’t immediately make sense, or help the Hawks to build a winner for the future.

As for the part about whether the Hawks can get anything better for Smith after the season, this latest report of Smith’s intentions isn’t likely to help in that regard.

From Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today:

On Thursday, Smith said Atlanta will be on his list of teams he considers when he becomes a free agent. However, all politics is local. The Atlanta native does not want to irritate the home fans, but a person familiar with Smith’s plans told USA TODAY Sports that it is “highly unlikely” that Smith re-signs with Atlanta. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the private nature of the negotiations.

If teams do their due diligence and discover that Smith indeed won’t return to Atlanta, then there’s no reason to overbid for his services to the point where they’d need to acquire him via a sign-and-trade, and give up assets in the process.

It’s worth noting that only teams who are under the luxury tax threshold (or no more than $4 million over it – it’s complicated) will be allowed to execute sign-and-trade deals next year under the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement, so Smith may have to settle for less money over the life of a new contract to play somewhere else.

Either way, it doesn’t seem like the Hawks will be able to do better than the questionable pile of players the Bucks were offering shortly before the deadline, but perhaps they’d simply rather have the cap space to pursue a different high-priced free agent instead.