Detroit Pistons: Greg Monroe calls trade rumors 'lies'

Before Greg Monroe signed his one-year, $5.5 million qualifying offer as a restricted free agent, a lot of talk around him this summer had to do with his relationship with the Detroit Pistons and rumors of him potentially being traded.

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Well Monroe doesn’t want to talk about it anymore, and doesn’t want you to either. He tried to set the record straight during media day Monday, via the Detroit Free Press.

"“It wasn’t rumors, it was all lies,” he said of things leaked about him over the summer. “Because I know what really went on, I’m not worried about it. … I know the truth. At the end of the day, I’m focused on getting ready for the season. All that stuff is behind me. I could (not) really care less.”“My family and I made the decision,” Monroe said of signing the qualifying offer. “I have an agent who handles that and I don’t feel as a player it’s something I should talk about. Just because I signed a qualifying offer people assume I’m leaving. That’s not the case.“I love Detroit and the people here. I’m looking forward to playing for this coaching staff. There’s no problem with any of my teammates. I went to Josh and we talked. He knows what I said and didn’t say.”"

There were plenty of rumors circulated based on the fact that (1) Monroe had yet to sign a long-term deal with the Pistons and (2) the front-court trio of him, Andre Drummond and Josh Smith clearly did not work last season and many believed Monroe would be the odd man out. Monroe won’t start the season because he has to serve a two-game suspension after being charged with a DUI in February, so new head coach Stan Van Gundy will have no choice but to see what the lineup looks like without him.

Just because Monroe wants the rumors to stop doesn’t mean they will. Whether or not he is asking management for a trade, or for them to trade Smith, dealing one of them makes sense. Van Gundy already said he won’t use the trio of bigs in his primary lineup, so it stands to reason that one of them could be flipped for a player that fits in.

(H/t CBS Sports’ Eye On Basketball)

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Detroit Pistons’ Greg Monroe calls trade rumors ‘lies’

By Wes Goldberg | Oct 1, 2014

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