The Detroit Pistons traded a first round pick for Donatas Montiejunas, but the trade was reascended when the Pistons’ medical staff decided he wasn’t healthy enough.
Stan Van Gundy expressed disappointment that the trade didn’t go through and said that he would have made the trade again given what Motiejunas could have brought to the team.
But if you were to ask Motiejunas about the voided trade, he would have an entirely different perspective.
"In an interview with a Lithuanian reporter that was later translated on Reddit, Motiejunas called the failed physical “a joke” and suggested the Pistons may have changed their mind about dealing the first-round pick.“The medical examination is a funny thing,” Motiejunas said, according to the translation. “The team doctor simply says whether you pass or don’t, although they may not even do any checks. Those 48 hours actually just let the team decide whether they want you or not. The Pistons announced I did not pass the medical, although I surely did pass it and played even before it. I just got ‘screwed.’ The injury was a pretense to call off the trade. They changed their minds.“Now I will be talking to my agent and lawyers to clarify what to do next. The Pistons had access to my full medical history, so they shouldn’t have done what they did to me. They decreased my value. The medical examination I ‘failed’ was a joke. The Pistons will have some explaining to do why they did not want the trade anymore. We will see what happens.”"
I wondered in private if Van Gundy was feeling some remorse for making the trade in the first place. Although the pick Detroit traded was top-8 protected this year, and lottery protected in the coming years, a first round pick was a steep price to pay for someone with an unproven track record and bad back, so it wouldn’t surprise me if there was some truth to what Motiejunas was saying.
It’s even more peculiar that the trade didn’t finalize given that Motiejunas is playing for the Rockets already, but then again, the Pistons’ medical staff likely voided the trade due to long-term concerns more than for where he’s at right now–assuming the voided trade was for real concerns for Motiejunas’ back like the Pistons claim.
This whole trade was just odd. I think there’s truth to what both parties are saying to some degree, but in the end, it really doesn’t matter, because what’s done is done.
One thing is for sure, Motiejunas will probably never be joining the Pistons after this, should he find a new team in the offseason when he’s a restricted free agent.