Trade chatter around Greg Monroe includes the Atlanta Hawks

Restricted free agency has been painful for Detroit's Greg Monroe and apparently the situation is going from bad to worse. A statement from Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski on a recent podcast caused a bit of a stir when he indicated that Monroe doesn't have any interest in playing for the Pistons next season.

What does this have to do with the Hawks? Wojnarowski also said that Detroit has looked for a deal for Monroe and three teams they had spoke with were Atlanta, Portland and Phoenix. He went on to say that all three teams had moved on.

What we don't know is how long ago those talks took place or whether or not they might come around again.

Portland went on to sign Chris Kaman which likely takes them out of the running. Phoenix has cap space available but has their own restricted free agent drama with guard Eric Bledsoe. Atlanta's has limited cap space remaining and has their own restricted free agent in Mike Scott. A sign and trade for the Hawks would be most likely the only option for Atlanta.

Detroit in many ways is responsible for Monroe's feelings after Joe Dumars inked former Hawks forward Josh Smith to a big contract last season. Playing Smith, Monroe and Drummond didn't produce good results and new head coach Stan Van Gundy doesn't plan to go that route. That means one of the trio will come off the bench and while that isn't likely to be Monroe it doesn't look like he trusts the situation enough to want to stay.

Whether it is the Pistons fault or not, they have all of the leverage in this situation. As Wojnarowski points out, Atlanta, Portland and Phoenix all could have made an offer sheet for Monroe but the likelihood was that Detroit would match so they moved on.

With the Pistons holding all of the cards the likelihood of a deal is small still the situation is something to keep an eye on until it is settled.