Detroit Pistons Greg Monroe Slams Trade Rumors, Calls them ‘Ridiculous’

Detroit Pistons Greg Monroe has slammed recent trade rumors after Sean Deveney with The Sporting News quoted a source stating, "Everyone knows he [Monroe] wants out of there. There is almost nothing he would shoot down." Head coach, Stan Van Gundy has also dispelled the rumors that the Pistons want to trade Monroe for a first-round pick.

Monroe stated to reporters, according to David Mayo with Mlive.com, "To say I was unhappy, losing 13 in a row, you can say that about everybody on the team... Nobody's happy when you lose 13 games in a row. But as far as where he (Deveney) took it, that was completely false, and it's really, like, ridiculous to have to come in here and answer questions like this."

He added, "Especially right now, lose 13 straight, finally get a couple games, then you've got to come in here and hear this while you're getting ready for a game. At this point, it's definitely annoying, because we're trying to turn things around right here, right now, and I've got to come in here and answer something that I've got absolutely nothing to do with, that I know I didn't say."

"Look, at this point, Greg controls pretty much everything. I think the way it's set up is good, and he'll have control at the end," said Van Gundy reported by Bleacher Report. "We haven't talked to anybody about trading Greg Monroe. We know there are teams with interest, and that's it."

Monroe also expressed his thoughts on the trade rumors that circulated during the summer and said that he doesn't "have time for that." The rumor was that Monroe had given the Pistons an ultimatum to trade Josh Smith.

Monroe stated that he first heard of these new rumors from a kid via Instagram. After hearing about it, Monroe said that the team's public relations then gave him a heads up about the latest rumor.

In order to get traded before the February deadline, Monroe would have to sign off on it. When asked whether or not he would, Monroe answered, "If they feel the need to come to me, obviously, I would have to have that discussion. But that discussion would have to be initiated by them. It would never be initiated by me."

Monroe will become an unrestricted free agent next summer. He is currently playing for $5.479 million this season.