Goran Dragic is not for sale.
Yet.
According to Basketball Insiders’ Steve Kyler, the Miami Heat are not entertaining offers for their franchise point guard, but there’s a chance that changes before the February deadline:
Miami’s Goran Dragic continues to surface as possibly the biggest fish to be had, but sources with the HEAT continue to say they are not ready to blow the team up; until that happens, Goran is not on the market. The prevailing belief outside of Miami is at the deadline, the HEAT will explore Dragic’s trade value in an effort to remove his salary from their books for a run through free agency this summer when Chris Bosh’s deal is expected to be off the books as well. Miami has kept no secret that they are rebuilding and would like to get a few more draft picks. HEAT sources said recently that keeping Dragic as the veteran leader wouldn’t be a bad thing, but conceded he might return a ton of value, which lines up with the league belief that the HEAT would explore moving him at or around the deadline.
This reads like the Heat aren’t actively looking to move Dragic, but would be open to pivoting if the right deal came along. And that’s exactly the approach they should be assuming.
Dragic doesn’t break the bank with a contract that was signed before the salary-cap explosion, and he’s currently having one of the best seasons of his career. The Heat will have a ton of cap space this summer, even if for some reason Bosh’s salary isn’t wiped off the books, and he, along with Hassan Whiteside, can be a good selling point to prospective free agents.
At the same time, Dragic turns 31 in May. That’s not too old, but his window clearly no longer aligns with Miami’s. Team president Pat Riley forked over two first-round picks to get him, and the Heat could use assets like that as they slog through the early stages of their impromptu rebuild.
If there’s a suitor willing to replenish their cupboard, even by purely matching what it cost to get Dragic, the Heat are obligated to listen.
