Isaiah Thomas Rumors: Detroit Pistons in heavy pursuit
The Detroit Pistons were the first team to lock down a commitment from an unrestricted free agency on the first day of free agency.
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In fact, they received two commitments. Former Los Angeles Lakers’ guard Jodie Meeks agreed to a three-year, $19.5 million deal while Atlanta Hawks’ swingman Cartier Martin agreed to a one-year deal.
New head coach and president Stan Van Gundy made shooting guard a priority and now that he has landed Meeks, he will be targeting a point guard.
According to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders, the Pistons are in “heavy pursuit” of a point guard and are “expressing serious interest” in Sacramento Kings’ restricted free agent Isaiah Thomas.
The Detroit Pistons are expressing serious interest in RFA Isaiah Thomas, according to sources. They're in heavy pursuit of the point guard.
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) July 1, 2014
The Boston Celtics were the first to contact Thomas while the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns are also interested.
Thomas averaged 20.3 points, 6.3 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game last season while shooting 45.3% from the field, 34.9% from beyond the arc and 85.0% from the free throw line.
There has been a lot of talk that the Kings are interested in Pistons’ forward Josh Smith. Smith is owed $13.5 million in each of the next three seasons, so the Pistons would obviously love to dump Smith. It would also probably allow them to
Smith put up 16.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 41.9% from the field, 26.4% from three and 53.2% from the charity stripe.