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Report: Greg Monroe accepts Pistons' qualifying offer

Restricted free agent power forward Greg Monroe will accept the one-year, $5.3 million qualifying offer from Detroit so he can enter unrestricted free agency next summer, reports Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. 
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Restricted free agent power forward Greg Monroe will accept the one-year, $5.3 million qualifying offer from Detroit so he can enter unrestricted free agency next summer, reports Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today

Spencer Hawes is the only first-round pick to ever sign the QO and then sign a multi-year deal with that same team. First-round guards Ben Gordon and Raymond Felton signed qualifying offers with the Chicago Bulls and Charlotte Bobcats, but  moved on to new teams the following summer. 

Monroe, 24, averaged 15.2 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists with the Pistons last season, in the final year of a four-year, rookie-scale contract worth $13 million.

More: The problem with Greg Monroe

As a restricted free agent, Monroe had the option to sign offer sheets with other teams. If he had signed a sheet from another team, Detroit would have had the option to match.

Talks between the two sides were at a standstill last week after Detroit reportedly offered Monroe a five-year, $60 million deal, but then moved on from that offer, though Monroe disputes that the Pistons offered that deal.  

A July report from The Times-Picayune said the Pelicans contacted the Pistons about potentially arranging a sign-and-trade for Monroe.

The Pistons this offseason reached deals with guards Jodie Meeks and D.J. Augustin as well as small forward Caron Butler.

Detroit won 29 games and missed the playoffs last season. In May, the team hired Stan Van Gundy to be its coach and president of basketball operations.

- Chris Johnson and Alex Hampl