Pistons waive Josh Smith

In a stunning move Monday morning, the Pistons waived their highest-paid player, Josh Smith.

Smith is making $14 million this season, and is scheduled to make that much in each of the next two years. The Pistons will be responsible for most of that money under the salary cap, although they will get some relief when a team signs Smith for the veteran minimum.

The decision strengthens a point that Stan Van Gundy made after Sunday night's loss in Brooklyn -- the team needed to start focusing on the long-term future after a 5-22 start destroyed any hopes of a successful season.

"Our team has not performed the way we had expected throughout the first third of the season and adjustments need to be made in terms of our focus and direction," Van Gundy said in Monday's statement. "We are shifting priorities to aggressively develop our younger players while also expanding the roles of other players in the current rotation to improve performance and build for our future. As we expand certain roles, others will be reduced. In fairness to Josh, being a highly versatile 10-year veteran in this league, we feel it's best to give him his freedom to move forward."

Smith, along with Brandon Jennings, were signed to big free-agent contracts before last season, but neither has panned out. That led to Joe Dumars' departure, and has greatly hampered Van Gundy's attempts to rebuild the roster.

In the short run, this move doesn't help. Detroit and its salary cap will still be responsible for Smith's salary, although they will get a small amount of relief when he signs with another team. This season, that means he will cost them about $13.65 million in cap space, but under the league's "stretch" provision, they can spread the remaining $28 million over five years instead of two. That still leaves a cap hit of $5 million each year all the way to the 2019-20 season.

On the court, the Pistons will move Greg Monroe back into the starting lineup, but he is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, so the team could end up with Andre Drummond as its only established post player next year. Joel Anthony and Jonas Jerebko will each pick up more playing time in Van Gundy's rotation, but neither of them is a long-term solution.

Waiving Smith is certainly a bold, expensive move by Van Gundy, and it isn't likely to be his last.