Now that the Miami Heat have waived and stretched Ryan Anderson’s contract, it has become much less likely they will need to trade Goran Dragic.
Goran Dragic has had quite the offseason already for somebody who didn’t actually end up getting traded. In the early hours of the Jimmy Butler sign-and-trade with the Philadelphia 76ers, Dragic was reportedly traded by the Miami Heat to the Dallas Mavericks.
It turns out the Mavericks thought they were getting Kelly Olynyk and Derrick Jones Jr., but the Heat weren’t interested in trading Jones, so the Dallas angle on the deal died a quick and bizarre death. As we know now, the Mavericks were quickly replaced by the Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Clippers, and the deal was allowed to happen.
According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, Dragic has been quietly assured he is likely to be brought back next season now that Ryan Anderson‘s contract has been waived and stretched.
The goal with a Dragic trade was to get off as much of his $19.1 million 2019-20 salary as possible, but with cap space around the NBA nearly dried up, there simply isn’t much that can be done with that contract now. On the plus side, Goran Dragic is a pretty good NBA player and that contract comes off the books next summer anyway, so not dumping him elsewhere is a fine result.
Dragic battled injuries and shifting roles last season, bouncing from starter to injury list to bench in a vicious cycle of nothing going right, so perhaps with some good health on a team with a clear top dog in Jimmy Butler can alleviate some of the turbulence around him.
Last season the Miami Heat were forced by waves of injuries to make rotational compromises, such as starting Justise Winslow at point guard. Hopefully, the Heat will be able to enter next season with some stability and Goran Dragic will only be able to benefit from that.