There are plenty of trade rumors swirling around the Motor City and the Detroit Pistons these days. Some were further fueled by Andre Drummond’s supposed subliminal messaging that he could be headed out the door. However, Pistons head coach and President of Basketball Operations, Stan Van Gundy, insists that the rumors don’t mean anything and it’s business as usual for him and GM Jeff Bower.
“All the rumors and stuff don’t mean a damn thing. They don’t,” he said, doing his best to quell the rumors. “They really mean nothing…It’s just interesting, because you’ve got all these things flying around that don’t happen and then nobody ever hears of that one and it happens. And that’s typical of the trade deadline and stuff that goes on.”
Earlier in the week, a report from Marc Stein of ESPN suggested the Pistons were discussing a deal with the Orlando Magic to send Reggie Jackson down south. The trade allegedly would have seen D.J. Augustin and Jeff Green head to Detroit in exchange for Jackson. Van Gundy was quick to throw water on that fire as well.
“One of you guys asked me over the weekend about how far all along the D.J. Augustin and Jeff Green trade for Reggie was, and the first time I heard about it was when I got that text — so I would assume not that far,” he said. “I usually can just laugh it off, but it gets a little bit annoying because you go through this for two weeks and it’s just bullshit after bullshit after bullshit.”
The NBA trade deadline is Thursday, February 23, at 3 p.m. ET. While we are still waiting to see whether or not the Pistons will make a move, one thing is for certain – it will definitely be an interesting day and a half until the deadline.
