Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reports that Cliff Robinson will have to wait for his contract situation to be settled. Pistons President Joe Dumars made it clear Wednesday that any discussion of the 13-year pro's future with the team beyond 2002-03 would occur after the season.

Robinson is in the final year of a contract that will pay him $8.4 million this coming season. That is the highest one-year salary of any player in Pistons history. Still, Robinson's agent, Brad Marshall, has been after the Pistons to negotiate a contract extension before the season.

"Cliff is an integral part of our team and we look forward to having him back," Dumars said. "He is a tremendous, tremendous plus for us. But part of our plan for moving forward was to play through this season and give ourselves some room to improve the team next summer. That hasn't changed. And to improve the team means creating cap space at the end of this season. So we wouldn't have done anything to put us in a position to do otherwise."

Marshall has insinuated that the Pistons had made certain promises to Robinson when they acquired him in a trade from Phoenix before last season. Dumars denied that, saying he and Robinson were clear that they would talk about his future in the summer of 2003.

"Nothing has changed at all," Dumars said. "We like Cliff and we are excited about having him back. Beyond that, we'll see where everything is after the season."