It's no secret that the Pistons need a big man, but were they going after the 38-year-old Big Aristotle? There were never any rumors of such a thing, but Shaq claimed in a recent interview that he could've signed with the Pistons for $8 million instead of taking $1.35 million with the Celtics:
↵↵↵I could have gotten $8 million from Atlanta and Detroit, but it wasn't about that. It was about being somewhere and being seen and winning.
↵
The first issue with Shaq's statement is that the Pistons didn't have $8 million to give him, unless they offered a two-year deal as part of the mid-level exception. That's unlikely, though, because I doubt the Pistons would've been willing to tie up their MLE for the next two years of rebuilding with a ramshackle 40-year-old Shaq.
↵It's just as likely that Shaq's agent fed him lies about his free agency options as it is that Shaq merely listed off the first two team names and a money figure that came to mind. If this were true, and Shaq wasn't creating a market for himself that never existed, then don't you think someone would've heard at least a peep about it? If it turns out that the Piston actually threw a money number at him, I'll punish myself for this dismissive post by watching 'Kazaam.'