Greg Monroe’s name is just about the busiest on the NBA’s trade rumor mill lately. He’s not happy in Detroit. He’s gone at the end of the year and the Pistons would be smart to get something for him on his way out the door. However, the Pistons are asking a lot while the rest of the league knows that and is low-balling the team. Plus he can walk at the end of the season, you don’t have his bird rights in this deal, so if you trade for him you don’t have the advantage in keeping him.
Meanwhile Monroe is denying he wants out. Those denials now include Monroe’s agent.
David Falk told Jeff Zillgett of the USA Today that Monroe wants to stay in Detroit Rock City. For now.
Falk denied all the trade rumors going around, but this is what a smart agent does publicly. Trashing the organization your player is with does not endear him to other organizations that may want to trade for/sign him.
But the talks are real. The Pistons are getting calls from teams interested in trading for Monroe — but the Pistons have set the price high. They reportedly told the Hawks they would want Jeff Teague and Kyle Korver for Monroe. I hope Mike Budenholzer was polite enough to hang up the phone before he burst out laughing in hysterics at that one. The Pistons also have asked for a first rounder in any deal, that likely would have a lot of restrictions and conditions attached.
The Pistons are going to lose Monroe, they need to see if they can get something for him. Anything is better than nothing, I guess. But with other teams knowing they can just sign Monroe this summer, the offers are not going to be big. Maybe a team out there will be willing to roll the dice with a trade, then be willing to offer Monroe max or near max money next summer thinking they can keep him (however there are no bird rights with the trade so this hypothetical team cannot offer more than other suitors). But those teams are not going to offer that much because he could walk.
Which means Stan Van Gundy may just ride this thing out and not make a deal.