Josh Smith Go Fund Me campaign going about as well as expected

The Detroit Pistons are paying Josh Smith $5.4 million to not play for them next season, and the power forward recently inked a deal from the Los Angeles Clippers for the veteran's minimum ($1.5 million.).

That means Smith will make $6.9 million next season to be a reserve on a championship contending Clippers squad. That might make you think everything's working out great for Smith, but if you ask him, the arrangement is going to make it difficult to provide for his family.

"At the end of the day, you know, I do have a family," he said. "So it is going to be a little harder on me this year. But I'm going to push through it, you know."

That might sound crazy to you or me, but the man was sort of expecting to make $13.5 million from Detroit in 2015 when he initially signed his contract. If I took nearly a 50 percent pay cut unexpectedly, I guess I'd be worried about providing for my family too. But ... yeah. You've made almost $94 million in the NBA, have millions more coming to you until 2019, at least, and are part of the fabled 1 percent of wealth in the United States. So we'll chalk this one up to being completely tone deaf.

Luckily, however, there are those sympathetic to Josh Smith's plight. A bleeding hearted man named Christopher Burlew has done the honorable thing and started a Go Fund Me campaign for the presumably destitute Smith.

As of this writing, it has raised exactly $0. But there is still time!

From the Go Fund Me page:

I'm not here to talk about the NBA's starvation wage of $1.5 million dollars, I'll leave that to the politicians in Washington. Josh Smith also will recieve $5.4 million from his former team, the Detroit Pistons, under the stretch provision after being waived by the team just before Christmas 2014. This means Mr. Smith will only make $6.9 million this season. Needless to say I spent a sleepless night wondering what I could do to get Josh Smith back on his feet. I am only one man, there isn't much I can do.  All I can do is ask us average Americans to help flip the other $7.1 million to make wage comparable to the $14 million a year he made as a member of the Detroit Pistons. I would hate to see Josh Smith have an inconvenience made from only making $6.9 million. If a man can only afford one gold-plated toilet, then what is the meaning of life. Let's start the hashtag: #SaveJoshSmith and help him through these dark times.

God Bless Josh Smith

And if that stirring call to action wasn't enough, Mr. Burwell adds this inspirational video to get you to loosen your wallet.

#SaveJoshSmith