The Miami Heat brought in some key pieces this offseason and ones that are surely to help change their fates this upcoming season. With that though, they had to ship out some pieces to, either, make room for those new pieces or help to facilitate the deals that would ultimately land those new pieces in Miami.
Yes and in case you hadn’t read the tea leaves yet… this is about Goran Dragic. A drawn out topic over the last month or so, it was highly debated, suspected, and pondered upon about what Kyle Lowry‘s new Miami Heat number would be… since he and Goran Dragic do share the same associated number.
Well, all thoughts could be calmed on Sunday. It was made official and Kyle Lowry would, indeed, wear number seven.
Source: Kyle Lowry is wearing 7 with the blessing of Goran Dragic.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) September 19, 2021
Important enough and indicative of the Reynolds report, Lowry has the blessing of the Heat Lifer and fan favorite, Goran Dragic The Dragon, to wear his number seven. That’s a great way to get it done and a great notion from one electric guard to another.
The Miami Heat had to ship out a ‘lifer’ in order to bring in Kyle Lowry. Does Lowry’s use of “7” prevent honoring Goran Dragic at the end of his career?
However, it all does beg of another question and one that has racked the collective brains of Miami Heat fans everywhere since the whole thing came about. Does the reuse of the number “7” jersey prevent the Miami Heat from giving Goran Dragic some sort of End Of Career Honor?
It’s hard to say whether they’ll retire the number, as though he’s meant a ton to them, he hasn’t had a retired number type of career, in general. He’s been very good but to the point of what it means to live in immortality, Basketball References Hall Of Fame Predictor tool has him at just a 0.4 percent chance at the moment.
The point isn’t that anyone thought he was a Hall Of Fame type, it’s just that a measure of that type of aptitude can tell you a ton about a player’s ability to stack up across the pantheon of the league’s entire history. So, again and with that, does Kyle Lowry taking over the number ‘7’ jersey hinder, stop, prevent, or moot a Goran Dragic End Of Career honor?
Nope. If the Miami Heat are going to honor him, they are going to do it anyway.
It would have to be a Heat thing, because that’s where his greatest impact is felt. All the rest of the guys who have had their numbers hung in the Miami Heat’s rafters are Hall Of Famers, except Tim Hardaway but that is a different topic that we will get to.
Dragic won’t make the Hall, so if he does make the Miami Heat’s ceiling, that’ll be a change. He… does deserve it but the question is… will he get that?
Who knows, but either way and just because Kyle Lowry wears his number now, that doesn’t mean that the Miami Heat plan to just forget about all Goran has done for them. Surely, they couldn’t do that, could they?