Though the Miami Heat are hovering on the brink of a full-tilt rebuild, they apparently don’t have any plans to shop veteran point guard Goran Dragic.
Yet.
From ESPN.com’s Marc Stein:
The Miami Heat aren’t actively trying to trade ?point guard Goran Dragic.
We know this because if they were, it wouldn’t take the Heat long to find a taker.
Around the league, though, there’s a growing sense that Dragic is a name to keep tabs on for those of you (and, yes, we mean everyone) who enjoy the sport unto itself known as NBA Wheeling & Dealing, since Miami is a team rival executives are watching closely.
Dragic, 30, doesn’t fit in to the Heat’s long-term plans. He has four years and roughly $70.2 million remaining on his deal, but Miami seems like it’s speeding toward a rebuild following the departures of Luol Deng and Dwyane Wade, and the still-yet-to-be-resolved situation with Chris Bosh. It would, on some level, make sense to test the market for Dragic, whose name has already started cropping up in the trade rumor mill—though, as Stein notes, that may just be wishful thinking on the part of potential suitors.
But the Heat still don’t know what they have in this roster. Dragic had a solid preseason, has chemistry with Hassan Whiteside and will be a key part of any version of the Heat that drastically exceeds expectations.
Plus, knowing team president Pat Riley, he won’t want to stay in this gray area for long. So if his plan is to hit the ground running during upcoming free-agency periods, it then makes sense to keep Dragic on as an incumbent fringe star, the thought being he’ll appeal to outside stars.
