The Detroit Pistons have Greg Monroe as a trade target this year after not making sign and trade deals over the summer and with the team not expected to retain Monroe in free agency, teams like the LA Lakers, Chicago Bulls, NY Knicks and Boston Celtics could be potential options for the forward, while Stan Van Gundy may look at a Josh Smith trade to the Sacramento Kings at the deadline.
Monroe was a restricted free agent last summer and he is expected to be one of the top targets on the market this year when he is unrestricted. Monroe and Marc Gasol will be two of the top big men on the market and while a Monroe trade is an option before that happens, it's unlikely since Monroe has trade power after signing a one year qualifying offer. According to Pro Basketball Talk, the Pistons had sign and trade offers this summer for Monroe, but Van Gundy did not like the deals and opted to keep Monroe, even with reports that he likely would sign elsewhere next year.
Earlier in the summer there were reports that the Pistons and Kings engaged in talks about Smith, but the sides couldn't get a deal done. According to Marc Stein at ESPN.com, the Kings wanted to add an offensive option to the front court alongside DeMarcus Cousins, who is developing into one of the best young bigs in the game. Smith has a big contract and that was the biggest issue and Stein wrote after the deal broke down that the two sides could pick it up again later in the season.
Around this time reports came out that Monroe wanted Smith to be traded for the Pistons to have any chance at retaining him long term, but his reps later came out an denied the story. Even if the reports were not true, it brought up the point that Andre Drummond, Smith and Monroe all have to play in the same area basically and that has impeded on developing the team as a whole. Van Gundy likes Drummond and the team locked him up and ideally he would like to build long term around Drummond and Monroe, but the contract of Smith has made him hard to move.
Monroe and his reps said earlier in the year that they would be willing to sign back in Detroit even as an unrestricted free agent, but that is very unlikely now. According to RealGM, the Pistons had numerous options in sign and trade deals for Monroe, but the Pistons felt that the deals did not have enough return coming back, as Van Gundy wanted "all-Star players." Three team deals also were an option, but the Pistons rejected those as well.
The Pistons may look at trading Smith again this season and Monroe will be a top free agent target for teams no matter what happens. With Marc Gasol also a top target, teams that miss out on the Grizzlies star could turn their attention to Monroe when the time comes. The Knicks, Celtics and Lakers reportedly will be looking at Gasol and that means they all could look at Monroe if Gasol stays in Memphis or ends up signing elsewhere.
