Smith signed a 4 year, $54 million deal with Detroit last summer but failed to live up to expectations, averaging a career-low in efficiency, all while Detroit failed to make the playoffs in a very weak Eastern Conference. New President of Basketball Operations Stan Van Gundy will obviously be looking to make some changes and ridding the team of Smith's contract would be a good first step.

Should the Kings acquire Smith though, that means they will have a huge amount of money invested in a frontline of Cousins, Smith and Gay going forward, assuming the Kings and Gay work out an extension this summer.

* UPDATE * – 2:15pm

Keep in mind that a lot can happen between now and Thursday, but Jonathan Givony (Draft Express) says the deal is "DEAD" as of this morning.

* UPDATE * – 3:06pm

Stein JUST posted a full story regarding the rumored trade talks on ESPN. He notes that both teams have "continued to exchange proposals," and indicated that Jason Terry and/or Carl Landry could be possibilities to replace Derek Williams in a potential deal. You can read the full story HERE. Obviously the timing of the publication of Stein's story would seem to contradict Givony's report that the deal is "dead." But, It's uncertain at this point whether Stein is simply operating under the impression that the talks are still very much in progress, or if he's reporting on older intel.