And the Greg Monroe restricted free agency carousel just keeps on spinning. Gridlocked in contract negotiations with the Detroit Pistons and unable to procure a worthwhile offer sheet from another team on the open market, Monroe is reportedly “definitely” willing to take the unprecedented route of playing 2014-2015 on a qualifying offer and trying his hand at unrestricted free agency next summer.
The news is courtesy of The Detroit News’ Vincent Goodwill.
While the Pistons big man has not pursued an offer sheet from another team, he has pursued sign-and-trade possibilities, and Monroe is “definitely” willing to take the one-year qualifying offer worth $5.3 million from Detroit in order to ensure his unrestricted free agency next summer, a source familiar with Monroe’s thinking told The Detroit News.
The source requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the contract talks. Monroe has until Oct. 1 to agree to a deal or sign the qualifying offer.
This latest report comes just two days after Monroe refuted the notion that Detroit offered him a five-year, $60 million contract, a development that lends a bit more credence to his threat of accepting a qualifying offer (QO). It’s been known since before free agency that Monroe and agent David Falk were seeking a max-level deal this summer, and the Pistons’ refusal to offer him a contract worth even 75 percent of that mark suggests that the stalemate between the two sides could be insurmountable.
As we’ve mentioned ad nauseam concerning Monroe and fellow disgruntled restricted free agent Eric Bledsoe, though, warnings of signing a QO – even at this late stage in the offseason – ring hollow. There’s just too much risk involved for a player of Monroe’s caliber to perform on a basic mid-level deal with no concrete assurance that he’ll receive the contract he wants next summer. If Monroe plateaus, regresses, or suffers a serious injury in 2014-2015 after accepting Detroit’s QO, he’d stand to lose tens of millions on the open market a year from now.
A much, much safer route would be to accept the Pistons’ best longterm offer, one that would surely double the $5.3 million QO at the least. Or if Monroe is indeed hellbent on leaving the Motor City for good, he could continue applying pressure to Detroit by demanding a sign-and-trade.
But that’s a drastic step, and it’s unknown what suitors would call for Monroe under those extreme circumstances. Consistent threatening of a qualifying offer is a different story, and it’s the only real leverage Monroe and Falk have in these contentious negotiations. And like every other top-tier free agent before him, he’ll likely sign a multi-year deal with his incumbent team at some point before the season.
The question now is whether or not Monroe’s bluff will win him the bet and get Detroit to sweeten its offer in the interim.
Is there a chance Monroe signs a qualifying offer?
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