AUBURN HILLS -- Detroit Pistons big man Greg Monroe denied a New York Daily News report today in which an unnamed NBA personnel executive said the player's move this summer to the New York Knicks is virtually a "done deal."

"You write it's a done deal, there must be another Greg Monroe around here that I don't know about, because I haven't agreed to anything," Monroe said before the Pistons' home finale today against the Charlotte Hornets.

Monroe, in his fifth NBA season, all with the Pistons, is an unrestricted free agent this summer.

It is widely speculated that he anticipates leaving Detroit, but the report that the Knicks have a deal in place while Monroe is under contract to the Pistons would constitute tampering.

"This stuff right here, it's just unfortunate that we have to talk about it," Monroe said. "I know we have to. But I talk to my agent every day, and I know for sure, I'm 100-percent, 1,000-percent confident, that he hasn't done anything. If they (the Knicks) have interest, maybe they might have commented on that. But I haven't even gotten to that place yet."

Monroe said the report by the Daily News' Frank Isola was "not factual at all."

"And we, as players, have to come in and answer for it when we have absolutely nothing to do with it," he said.

The report came three days before the Pistons end the season Wednesday night against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Monroe already was besieged by Knicks-related questions the last time Detroit and New York played, and anticipates it being far worse this week after the Daily News report.

"They're going to ask me the same kind of questions you guys are saying, and I'm going to tell them the same exact thing," Monroe said. "I don't know where he got it from."

Stan Van Gundy, the Pistons' president of basketball operations and head coach, said he was in no position to comment on a potential tampering violation of which he has no knowledge, but that the Pistons are "going to try to keep Greg, there's no question about that."

Van Gundy and Monroe both said they have stayed away from business discussions during the season, and that this report was no different.

"Greg and I have not spent any time talking about that," Van Gundy said. "I don't think it would be appropriate, number one, to be focusing on anything beyond the rest of the season until the season's over."

Said Monroe: "It's been all business from both sides and I appreciate that."

The Pistons could have locked up Monroe with an extension on his rookie contract two years ago but never made an offer.

"I never asked for an explanation and they didn't have to give me one," Monroe said in recalling that situation. "It is what it is. We're all men. We're all professionals. You're not really saying much in a situation like that, per se. You kind of get the picture. I've obviously dealt with it. I've continued to play. I'm past it also. And now I'm in the position I'm in.

"People look at it like, 'He decided to do something else,' but at the end of the day, it could have been done prior to this and it probably could have been a different situation. I'm not worried about it anymore."

Monroe was asked by a reporter if he was surprised the Pistons, then under the watch of former president of basketball operations Joe Dumars, didn't extend his contract in 2013.

"Slightly," he replied. "I thought I did enough and conducted myself in a way to at least get an offer. As people always say, it's one thing if the player says no. But if I was never even offered anything, that says more to me than any explanation. I don't really need an explanation once you get to that point where there wasn't even an option for me."

Last summer, Monroe eschewed the usual processes of restricted free agency by not pursuing external offers. In so doing, he removed any possibility that the Pistons would match.

He signed a $5.479 million, one-year qualifying offer for this season, which allowed him to become an unrestricted free agent this year.

Monroe said he has mixed emotions about delving more deeply into free agency this year after sitting on the sidelines last summer.

"Obviously, I want to sign a new contract and be stable the next few years," he said. "But at the same time, that was a stressful time. It wasn't as fun as people make it out to be. So obviously, it's something that I'm looking forward to, but I understand both sides of it. I'm not saying I'm not looking forward to it, but it really wasn't all it was talked up to be. Trust me, I would much rather have not gone through that.

"You guys have been around here for the past couple of years. I much rather would have been settled in here. That didn't happen and I'm in this position."

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