AUBURN HILLS -- The Detroit Pistons' decision on restricted free agent Greg Monroe already has been made, based on any of several possible scenarios, team president and head coach Stan Van Gundy said Tuesday.

Van Gundy said the team has discussed sign-and-trade possibilities, but if none of those reaches fruition and Monroe signs an offer sheet with another team, the Pistons are prepared to react to any eventuality.

"We've been through basically every million-dollar increment of an offer sheet he can get, and what will we do if he takes the option of signing an offer sheet, and this is what he comes back with, what will we do?" Van Gundy said. "So to me, there's not going to be any drama in it for us. We've already made that decision. We've already talked that through with ownership."

Van Gundy discussed the several scenarios that could happen with Monroe, though he came back to one central tenet which ultimately could drive the Pistons' decision.

"I think teams think it's better, especially with younger guys, to have an asset, even if he's overpaid, that can bring value down the road, than to have a guy go for nothing," Van Gundy said.

If Monroe isn't traded before free agency opens July 1 and receives a maximum contract offer, the value of that deal would exceed $15 million annually, based on salary-cap projections.

In the least-likely scenario, Monroe can sign a one-year qualifying offer for just more than $5 million to stay with the Pistons next season, then become an unrestricted free agent in 2015.

If Monroe spurns the qualifying offer and tests the market, then signs an offer sheet with another team, the Pistons' first-refusal rights give them three days to either match the offer or let Monroe leave without compensation.

Van Gundy said he has spent "well over half my time" on the Monroe situation since his May 13 hiring, calling it "the most important thing on our plate for the offseason."

"It's certainly an indication of how much I value him," Van Gundy said of his time expenditure.

Van Gundy did say sign-and-trade options have been considered but added that the one thing he won't do is make a trade "because I feel like I got pushed into it."

"If we make a trade, we're going to get something we like, or we will not make a trade," he said, adding that the Pistons "either want him (Monroe) back or we want good value for him."

Van Gundy also offered some insight into his thinking by noting that the Pistons wouldn't have to pay Monroe, Josh Smith and Andre Drummond eight-figure contracts simultaneously until the 2016-17 season -- a conundrum which could be alleviated long before then.

ESPN reported that there have been cursory discussions between the Pistons and Sacramento Kings about a deal involving Smith but that nothing is imminent, and the last three years of Smith's four-year, $54 million contract could be difficult to move.

How pressing the contractual issues presented by the big-three front line become could be determined largely by what kind of offer Monroe receives this summer.

Van Gundy said the Pistons are "pretty comfortable that we'll come out of this OK, no matter what happens."

"I think you at least have to have a plan where if this happens, are we ready? What's next for us? And we are ready," Van Gundy said. "For me, that situation, we know exactly where we're headed on that, so there's not a lot of anxiety, in terms of what's going to happen."

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