Greg Monroe 'definitely' willing to take qualifying offer, source tells Detroit News

Greg Monroe is "definitely" willing to take his one-year qualifying offer, an anonymous source tells the Detroit News.

While no definitive contract proposal has been offered, if Monroe signed his $5.3 million qualifying offer, he would surely be giving up several million dollars next year and in the years to come. In fact, he could be giving up in excess of $50 million in guaranteed money. But the source tells the Detroit News that Monroe is ready to try his luck at unrestricted free agency in 2015.

The Pistons and Monroe have been in a stalemate since free agency began July 1. No team with cap space signed Monroe to an offer sheet and there are few teams with money available to offer Monroe anything in excess of $10 million per season. And there appears to be no teams willing to offer him the max that he reportedly desires, including the Pistons.

Detroit has reportedly floated a couple of proposals to Monroe's agent David Falk, a "Gortat-like" five-year, $60 million deal and a more lucrative annual deal that would see him make slightly more than Josh Smith, who is the Pistons' highest-paid player at $13.5 million per season.

Though, as reported previously on Detroit Bad Boys, Monroe took to Twitter and denied multiple contract offers had been made.

The source who spoke to the Detroit News is only referred to as a source that "requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the contract talks."

The same source said that this isn't about the team.

Monroe reportedly doesn't have anything against the Pistons or new coach/president Stan Van Gundy. In fact, the source said, Monroe "likes Van Gundy and likes what he says," but added that Monroe "needs proof (of Van Gundy's vision)."

Monroe has an Oct. 1 deadline to accept his qualifying offer. If there is still no resolution, Monroe loses the ability to sign the QO but remains a restricted free agent with the Pistons holding the right of first refusal on any future contract offer he receives.

Now, how about a little careless careful speculating?

There is no indication who this anonymous source is affiliated with, but just as it makes the most sense that someone connected to the team was the one to leak information about specific or general contract offers the Pistons had made to Monroe's representatives, it makes just as much sense that this source is connected to Monroe's camp.

I suppose it could be someone within the organization who is letting it be known that the QO is a real threat, but that is unlikely. After all, the article lays plain why Monroe's camp would want to put this kind of information out there.

While taking the qualifying offer is a risk if he gets injured - he has missed just one of his last 310 games - it's the biggest leverage he and his agent, David Falk, have.

So is it a real threat or just a negotiating tactic? I have no idea, but at least it makes a hell of a lot more sense than the Pistons trading Monroe for Roy Hibbert. So there's that.