The Hawks will officially be on the clock now that Josh Smith has signed an offer sheet with the Memphis Grizzlies.

After receiving the signed offer sheet later today, the Hawks will have seven days to match the Grizzlies' five-year, $58 million offer.

The Hawks maintained that they will match any offers made to Smith, though no one saw the Grizzlies offer coming.

The Grizzlies were the only NBA team with significant cap space left. It was believed the team would hold on to their cap space for the free agent class of 2009.

Even if the Hawks match the offer they'll have some damage control to do with Smith. He made visits to Philadelphia and Los Angeles (Clippers) to be wined and dined this summer.

Both the 76ers and Clippers opted for les risky situations - unrestricted free agent Elton Brand for the 76ers and a trade for Denver's Marcus Camby for the Clippers. The were moves that wouldn't tie up their salary cap space for the seven days the Hawks had to match an offer.

Smith's representatives have spent the summer stuck in slow-paced negotiations with the Hawks over a salary figure. The Hawks offered Smith a five-year, $45 million contract last October that he declined and never increased that offer this summer. The Grizzlies' offer is significantly more than that, an average of $11.6 million per season.

Similar negotiations with Josh Childress led the former Hawks' sixth man to pursue his options and he signed a three-year, $20 million offer from Greek powerhouse Olympiakos two weeks ago.