He was being interviewed when the no pay cut comment came out. Not having to dispel a rumor. Again being OPEN to a trade is NOT the same as asking to be traded
He was being interviewed but Katt did not ask him a question about his contract or anything close to it. He volunteered the information with no prompting and with clear purpose to send a message to the team.
There is no story that he was open to a trade. The story is that he asked to be traded. I don't understand how you can believe that he was just open to be traded, which hasn't been reported by anyone, but refuse to believe that he asked to be traded which has been an uncontroverted story for months.