Report: Motiejunas Calls Pistons' Medical Examination A Joke: 'They Decreased My Value'
By Dan Jenkins
@DanTJenkins
At last week's NBA trade deadline, Detroit Pistons president and coach Stan Van Gundy thought he had found yet another young, talented piece to add to his growing team.
That idea quickly went out the window when the Pistons rescinded a trade with the Houston Rockets because forward Donatas Motiejunas failed the mandatory physical.
Now, Motiejunas is speaking out about his time with Pistons doctors and what he thinks the real reason is for Detroit voiding the trade.
In an interview with a Lithuanian reporter that was translated on Reddit and later reported by Detroit Bad Boys, Motiejunas says the physical that doctors performed on him was "a joke."
"The medical examination is a funny thing. The team doctor simply says whether you pass or don't, although they may not even do any checks," Motiejunas said. "Those 48 hours actually just let the team decide whether they want you or not."
The Pistons requested an additional 24 hours to evaluate Motiejunas' health before making the trade official. Soon after, word had leaked that the trade would be rescinded.
"The Pistons announced I did not pass the medical, although I surely did pass it and played even before it," Motiejunas added. "I just got 'screwed'. The injury was a pretense to call off the trade. They changed their minds."
The 7-foot Lithuanian has played in just 15 NBA games this season after having surgery to repair a herniated disk in his back in March 2015.
"Now I will be talking to my agent and lawyers to clarify what to do next," Motiejunas said. "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."
Before the trade was rescinded, Van Gundy compared Motiejunas' injury to that of J.J. Reddick's, which comes with occasional flare-ups.
General manager Jeff Bower issued an official statement regarding the snafu.
"Standard with all trades, medical clearance on all players involved is required for completion," Bower said in the statement. "Medical clearance was not given on all players and the trade is being rescinded. In view of privacy considerations relating to medical information, we will have no further comment."
The Pistons obviously saw something they didn't like about Motiejunas' long-term outlook. But if they simply reversed the trade to keep their first round pick there might be more of this story to come.