Antonio McDyess is coming back to the Pistons, and some writers outside Detroit are lamenting the NBA rule that allows McDyess to re-sign with his former team, while others wonder about a secret deal between McDyess and Pistons GM Joe Dumars.

Fair enough. The traded-but-not-really-traded phenomenon is strange, and it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that, absent an under-the-table agreement, Dumars at least had an idea that McDyess wasn’t excited to pack up and play elsewhere.

Regardless, this quote from McDyess’ agent stands out. It’s from A. Sherrod Blakely’s story at MLive.com:

“We looked at two or three different scenarios besides Detroit,” McDyess’ agent, Andy Miller, said in a phone interview Sunday night. “Antonio felt he started something in Detroit, and felt an obligation to his teammates, the fans and the organization, to finish it.”

Now, by all accounts, McDyess is an exceptionally loyal guy, so everything about this statement makes sense on the surface. That is, except for the part that oozes irony: McDyess expressing his sense of obligation to the same Pistons organization that had just traded him away.

Some background, first from the Rocky Mountain News:

Sources emphasized a key reason Antonio McDyess, acquired from Detroit in Monday’s big deal, doesn’t want to play for Denver is he’s still bitter at perceived mistreatment regarding his June 2002 trade from the Nuggets to New York.

And then from the Boston Herald via MLive’s “Full Court Press” blog:

Most observers expect McDyess to return to Detroit after the league’s mandatory 30-day waiting period. But McDyess, reportedly upset by the trade, can expect to hear from the Celtics if a buyout does indeed go through.

So if McDyess still holds a grudge against the Nuggets for trading him (and granted, we don’t know the details or extent of the “perceived mistreatment” from the 2002 trade) and more recently felt upset by the Iverson trade, why would he return to the Pistons out of a sense of commitment?

It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I can think of a couple of reasons he might re-sign with Detroit anyway. One, the unnamed sources in the stories I referred to could be wrong, and McDyess, while surprised by the trade, understands the business rationale behind it and doesn’t hold a grudge. Two, he had a secret arrangement with Dumars and his free agent flirtations with the Cavs and Celtics were a charade — he always planned to return to the Pistons. And three, he was surprised and upset by the trade, but doesn’t want to move his family at this stage in his career and prefers to play for Detroit despite his displeasure. In that case, Andy Miller’s statement is just spin.

If it’s the first explanation, all’s well at the Palace. Pragmatically, the second explanation is fine, too, though Dumars and McDyess would have acted unethically. But what about the third one? It seems fairly likely, considering that the other two explanations either involve misconduct or don’t account for the reports of McDyess’ reaction or his past with the Nuggets.

All of this conjecture is leading to this question: If the third explanation is accurate, will we see an embittered Antonio McDyess this season? Or will he be the same positive, hard-working leader for the Pistons that we’ve seen over the last few seasons?

My guess is we we’ll get the same guy we’ve come to value so highly. But it bears watching.