It's so weird because Slash and Duff don't need to do this at all.
Maybe they want to.
I heard a podcast with Eddie Trunk that Slash did about a year or so ago (maybe a little more). And he seems like a pretty intense guy for all his chill persona. He talked about be obsessive in many ways - playing guitar, drugs, etc. - and twice he said things, in an offhand way, that reinforced that. Once he said "well I don't really spend a lot of time thinking about who I want to play with, because if I did, I would then spend all my time making it happen" and once about drugs he said something about how "there really isn't casual use for me; if I do it I end up doing it to the extreme. That's why the overdoses.".
I don't know, I just got the vibe that if this was something that he had any interest at all in, it would be full on.
I think sometimes it's best to just not read too much into things and not project our own cynicism on things. Maybe he just wants to play stadia again. Who the fuck knows? I don't begrudge them this at all (and I also don't care one bit that Adler isn't involved).