Detroit Pistons: Aaron Gray Ruled Out Indefinitely

With media day taking place on Monday, Detroit Pistons fans were given their first real opportunity to hear from, and about, many of their new faces. There was one piece of news that they definitely weren’t expecting though.

Aaron Gray, who only recently signed as a free agent this summer, will not only miss training camp, but is ruled out indefinitely after suffering a cardiac episode at the end of August. With heart issues being nothing to take lightly, Gray and the Pistons are making the correct decision by applying considerable caution to the situation.

According to Perry A. Farrell of the Detroit Free Press, although the episode occurred during practice, it wasn’t on site at the Pistons facility. Unfortunately this isn’t the only time that Gray has had to cope with heart problems either.

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Back in 2012 during his time with the Toronto Raptors,

Gray had a procedure called an ablation

, to try and alleviate some outstanding cardiac problems. The purpose of ablation is to slow and regulate the rhythm of the heart, and the procedure meant Gray missed much of the Raptors training camp back in that lockout shortened season too.

The priority for all parties involved has to be the health and well-being of Gray, but with it being hard to pin a time scale for return from such a potentially serious event, you have to wonder what ramifications this will have on the shape of Detroit’s roster heading into the season.

The Pistons are going into training camp with 16 guaranteed contracts already on the books, and the need to cut or trade at least one of those. The potential for Gray’s absence to be for an extended period of time, could create a few problems for Detroit though.

Last season they had very poor depth in the middle, and no legitimate true center to act as a backup to Andre Drummond. As a result when Gray was signed, that void was filled, and it made perfect sense. Still, aside from him, there are still no legitimate options on the Pistons roster though.

Depending on how Stan Van Gundy sees his fit within the roster, Greg Monroe may well be asked to spend some time at center, as he has done in the past. That would be far from ideal though, and will be one of the reasons why Detroit may be forced to explore other alternatives.

One such option would be to sign Hasheem Thabeet. Thabeet is a part of the Pistons’ training camp squad, and now seems likely to get some significant burn during the preseason. A former second overall pick, Thabeet has never lived up to expectations in the NBA, but he would at least be a player who could offer the team some rebounding and defensive effort off the bench.

If the Pistons are to sign Thabeet to a guaranteed contract, and are retaining Gray while they wait on a health update, that would create a need for two players to be moved on for Detroit. As a result of Gray’s condition, the Pistons training camp is going to be more important than ever, as guys will have to compete at the highest level to keep their jobs.

Hopefully, Gray will have a speedy recovery and make his Pistons debut very soon, but in the mean time Detroit have some decisions to make.