The Dragon is heating up the second unit on South Beach, adjusting well to a return to a bench role after seven seasons primarily as a full-time starter.
Goran Dragic is healthy again this season after being limited to 36 games in 2018-19 due to a balky right knee that eventually required surgery.
This season, the 33-year-old is leading a strong bench unit for the Miami Heat, which ranks third in the NBA in scoring by reserves at 45.4 points per game.
Dragic is averaging 15.5 points, 4.9 assists and 3.3 rebounds in 28.6 minutes per game, shooting 46.3 percent overall and 40.0 on a career-high 5.3 3-point attempts a night. He has made one start for Miami, on Nov. 27 at Houston, logging 34 minutes and finishing with 13 points, two rebounds and just one assist.
That means Dragic has played better as a backup this season in his 16 appearances off the bench. Depth is one reason the Heat have gotten off to a 13-5 start to this season, the club’s best 18-game record since Miami started the 2013-14 season — the last year of the LeBron James–Dwyane Wade–Chris Bosh troika — at 14-4.