The Kings have a “very strong” interest in Josh Smith, league sources tell Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee (Twitter links), and the Mavs are in play for him, too, as Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops hears (Twitter link). Still, while six teams have shown interest, “nothing of substance” is in the works for Smith, a source tells Jake Fischer of SI Now (Twitter link), whose report came after the Mavs news but before the report on the Kings. Fischer last week reported that the Kings would soon begin talks with the client of Brian Dyke and Wallace Prather.
Smith has reportedly held mutual interest in re-signing with the Rockets, and he enjoys playing for Kevin McHale, notes Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Still, the Rockets have only Non-Bird rights on the forward who signed at midseason, meaning they can only give him $2,492,400, a 20% raise on the $2.077MM he saw in 2014/15, without clearing cap space or raiding the mid-level exception.
The Clippers and Smith also reportedly had mutual interest, though that surfaced before DeAndre Jordan flipped from his decision to sign with the Mavs to recommit to the Clippers instead. Thus, the Clippers only have the minimum salary to offer. The Mavs have loads of cap room that they were to spend on Jordan, while the Kings have roughly $7MM in cap space.