Greg Monroe pursued sign-and-trades with Thunder, Trail Blazers

Greg Monroe’s restricted free agency has been one of the weirder stories of the NBA offseason. Not often do we see a guy that averaged 15.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game in a contract year remain unsigned well into August.

The belief, according to Michael Lee of the Washington Post,  is that Monroe doesn’t want to remain in Detroit long-term but didn’t seek an offer-sheet with another team this summer, fearing the Pistons would simply match any offer.

Monroe and has camp did, however, pursue sign-and-trade options. Although nothing materialized, Lee notes that Monroe’s camp talked with a couple of the NBA’s best teams.

"Monroe and his agent, David Falk, never sought an offer sheet from another team but pursued sign-and-trade proposals with at least five other teams, including Portland and Oklahoma City, according to person familiar with the discussions. Monroe denied receiving a reported five-year, $60 million offer – or anything close – from Pistons and would’ve been unlikely to accept either way."

It seems the easiest way for Monroe to get out of Detroit relatively soon is to do what he is going to do, accept Detroit’s $5.5 million qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent next offseason.

So while Monroe won’t jump to a top team this summer, he’s going to give himself the freedom to pull off such a move next summer.

The Pistons drafted Monroe with the No. 7 pick in the 2010 draft.