NBA Rumors: Goran Dragic Could Return To Phoenix Suns As Miami Makes Him Available For Trade
With a rotation that featured the likes of Tyler Ulis, Elfrid Payton, and Shaquille Harrison, the Phoenix Suns struggled at point guard for most of the 2017-18 NBA season. That could change, however, if the team trades for Goran Dragic, a former Sun whom the Miami Heat are reportedly willing to trade ahead of the 2018-19 season.
Over the weekend, two separate sources wrote that the Heat are open to the idea of trading Dragic to another team, with AmicoHoops‘ Ashish Mathur writing on Saturday that Miami would “gladly” agree to a potential deal if the team gets a first-round draft pick in return. This came shortly after Arizona Sports 98.7’s John Gambadoro replied to a Twitter user asking if the Suns could trade for Dragic, telling the fan that the 32-year-old point guard is “available,” thus making the deal possible.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Gambadoro was the same source who said that the Suns have been shopping around in recent days for a new point guard to replace Brandon Knight, who was sidelined for the entire 2017-18 season and was recently traded to the Houston Rockets. According to Gambadoro, the Suns were looking to trade for the Boston Celtics’ Terry Rozier, the Charlotte Hornets’ Kemba Walker, or the Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard, only for the point guards’ respective teams to reject the idea of a trade.
Goran Dragic Being Made Available in Trade Discussions: https://t.co/K5gN8oANZi
— Heat Nation (@HeatNationCom) September 2, 2018
With Rozier, Walker, and Lillard apparently out of the equation for the meantime, Mathur wrote that the Phoenix Suns could try to swing a deal for Goran Dragic, who had two separate three-year stints with the team, first from 2008 to 2011, then from 2012 to 2015. He added, however, that it’s unclear whether Dragic and the Suns are still on less than pleasant terms with each other, as the 32-year-old point guard made critical comments about the team in a 2016 interview, accusing the Suns of “always changing something” and not showing loyalty to their top players.
If the Phoenix Suns are able to trade for Goran Dragic, he will likely provide an instant boost to the team’s point guard rotation, which was left almost threadbare after Knight was traded to the Houston Rockets in a deal that sent forward Ryan Anderson to Phoenix. Dragic became a first-time All-Star selection earlier this year, averaging 17.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.8 assists in the regular season for a Miami Heat team that finished 44-38 and lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 2018 playoffs.
