Van Gundy 'Feels Bad' About Motiejunas' Situation

By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby

Pistons head coach (and president of basketball operations) Stan Van Gundy may have nixed the trade that would have brought 7-foot forward Donatas Motiejunas to Detroit. But he says he's sympathetic to the tough situation in which it put Motiejunas.

The trade was a bit of a cluster from the beginning. First the 76ers jumped into the deal (they would have gotten the Pistons' Joel Anthony after all was said and done). Then the teams received an extension from the NBA offices that would allow them another three days to finalize the trade, pending a resolution to physical concerns over Motiejunas' nagging back injury.

By that Monday -- the day of the extended deadline -- the deal was dead.

"Standard with all trades, medical clearance on all players involved is required for completion," Pistons general manager Jeff Bower said in a statement at the time. "Medical clearance was not given on all players and the trade is being rescinded."

Motiejunas'  back was deemed too much of a risk by the Pistons – a decision Motiejunas would later call a "joke," according to an interview with Lithuanian media, translated by Reddit. He was "screwed" by the Pistons, and he said they decreased his value.

Now, Van Gundy says that he feels bad about the situation, but the decision to rescind the trade was the  best for the team.

"Look, I feel bad for him, because I understand his points, in terms of his value and everything else," Van Gundy said, according to the Detroit Free Press. "(But) we felt we had to make the decision we made."

Continuing, Van Gundy also mentioned that the NBA was a tough business, where players might have to move themselves and their families within 48 hours "and you got absolutely no say in it," according to the Free Press.

It's a fairly rare occurrence for NBA trades to be nixed as late into the process as the Motiejunas one was. In 2006, Bower – then the general manager of New Orleans – was involved with another nixed trade. That trade would have brought Philadelphia's center, Steven Hunter, to the then-Hornets (later renamed the Pelicans). Hunter's physical condition was also questioned, and New Orleans decided not to bring him to town.

"We were unable to reach a comfort level to move forward with the trade," Bower said at the time, according to ESPN. "At this time we felt we had to go in this direction."

And another Detroit-Houston trade has previously been rescinded, according to the same ESPN article. In 1994, the Pistons attempted to trade Sean Elliot to the Rockets for Matt Bullard and Robert Horry, but Elliot failed his physical.

Without Motiejunas, Detroit welcomed back Joel Anthony, who they would have sent away in the trade if it were finalized. Anthony has played in 15 games for Detroit this season, making 2-of-6 field goals and collecting 16 rebounds.