Report: Pistons Turned Down Multiple Trade Offers For Greg Monroe
The Detroit Pistons and Greg Monroe almost parted ways in the offseason, but the Pistons ultimately declined multiple trade offers for the young big man.
After initially struggling with the deal, Monroe signed a one-year qualifying offer this summer, keeping him with the Pistons for this season and making him eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer. Apparently there were plenty of opportunities for new head coach and president Stan Van Gundy to pull off a sign-and-trade deal for Monroe, but his demands may have been too high.
All along, Monroe never wanted to return to the Pistons and summer sign-and-trade possibilities streamed into Detroit’s front office. Van Gundy is a top-tier head coach in the NBA, proud of his system and acumen to establish a franchise. As trading Monroe became the most inviting option, Van Gundy knew the stakes, knew Monroe was likely gone after one season under his qualifying offer deal anyway.
Several NBA teams had pitched sign-and-trades scenarios to the Pistons’ front office, but Van Gundy responded with a turn-off: The president and coach requested All-Star caliber players in return, league sources told RealGM. In one instance, two other franchises had agreed to a three-team deal that needed the Pistons’ acceptance, delivering Monroe a maximum-level contract. Opposing team executives involved pushed for it. Only, Detroit rejected.
One of the teams reported to be preparing an offer for Monroe at one point was the Phoenix Suns.
At some level perhaps Van Gundy did want to try the Greg Monroe-Josh Smith-Andre Drummond experiment for himself, and in knowing that Monroe would become a free agent anyway, he might as well have tried to demand high caliber players if he agreed to a trade. In essence, he had nothing to lose, other than now starting the season 3-17 with this group.
Unless Van Gundy makes strides in cleaning house and establishing that he wants to keep Monroe and rebuild around him, or the experiment makes a miraculously drastic shift, it’s safe to say Greg Monroe will look for a new place to contribute his services in free agency.
