According to reports, point guard Goran Dragic has told the Phoenix Suns he doesn’t plan to re-sign with the club this summer and his agent presented the team a list of preferred trade destinations.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported that Dragic’s agent, Bill Duffy, gave the Suns a list of teams Dragic would OK a trade to, a list that includes the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks and Miami Heat.
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That came on the heels of a report from USA Today’s Sam Amick that Dragic’s representatives told the team that he won’t be coming back to the Suns in free agency this summer.
Dragic, the NBA’s Most Improved Player for Phoenix in 2013-14, is in the third season of his second stint with the Suns. He was re-acquired as a free agent in July 2012 after being traded to the Houston Rockets in February 2011.
Dragic came to Phoenix the first time in a draft night trade in 2008 from the San Antonio Spurs, who took the Slovenian left-hander with the 45th pick in the second round that year.
He broke out in 2011-12 with the Rockets, averaging 11.7 points and 5.3 assists a game as a part-time starter and when he came back to the Valley of the Sun, he put up 14.7 points and 7.4 assists in 33.5 minutes a game in 2012-13.
His reward was new general manager Neal McDonough bringing in another starting-caliber point guard in Eric Bledsoe, but the tandem worked well.
Dragic averaged 20.3 points and 5.9 dimes a game last season and earned third-team All-NBA honors.
So of course, McDonough brought in a third point guard last summer when he signed Isaiah Thomas as a restricted free agent from the Sacramento Kings.
Dragic’s playing time is down slightly, to 33.4 minutes a game from 35.1 last season, but his production has dipped to 16.2 points and 4.1 assists and he’s only getting to the foul line 2.5 times a game, down from 5.5 last season.
The Hydra approach has the Suns in eighth place in the Western Conference at the All-Star break with a record of 29-25, but Dragic reportedly wants to run his own team.
That would explain the presence of non-contenders Los Angeles, New York and Miami among his preferred destinations.
The Lakers’ point guard situation is muddled at best, with veteran Jeremy Lin struggling through his least productive season since the “Linsanity” craze in New York in 2012 and rookie Jordan Clarkson not really yet ready for prime time.
The Knicks have the NBA’s worst record at 10-43 and have ancient Pablo Prigioni, creaky Jose Calderon and youngster Shane Larkin as their point guard options, at least until the emergence of Langston Galloway, who has averaged 11.1 points a game and earned a two-year contract since joining the team on a 10-day deal on Jan. 7.
But three assists in 29.7 minutes per game for Galloway doesn’t exactly scream facilitator.
Miami hoped rookie Shabazz Napier could be an answer at point guard after four years of the Mario Chalmers–Norris Cole tag team, but Napier played his way out of the rotation and was shuffled off to Sioux Falls of the D-League for much of December.
Napier has started Miami’s last seven games, but is getting only 21.3 minutes of run and is averaging 4.9 points and 4.6 assists on dreadful shooting of 34.2 percent overall and 27.3 percent from 3-point range.
And Miami is 2-5 over that span, so the Heat might not be averse to adding Dragic with the notion of retaining him in free agency this summer.
Another possibility is the Indiana Pacers, who desperately need a point guard and have the promise of All-Star Paul George’s return next month that could make them a dark horse contender in the East come playoff time—provided the Pacers can get in.
They are currently tied for 11th in the conference at 21-33, but there is a clump of incompetence stumbling toward the postseason in the East, with six teams—Charlotte, Miami, Brooklyn, Boston, Detroit and Indiana all within two games of each other for two spots.
So the question is whether Phoenix goes ahead with rumored plans to try to move Thomas and make another pitch to Dragic, acquiesce to his desires and trade him to a team on his list or the option behind Door No. 3.
That would be to trade him—and his Bird rights—to a place he doesn’t really want to go and put Dragic in the position of having to settle for four years and $80 million in a destination of his choice this summer, as opposed to the five years and more than $100 million the team holding those Bird rights can offer.
And all of this will happen on a very condensed timetable—the trade deadline is Thursday at 4 p.m. Eastern.
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