The Miami Heat are at an awkward point in their rebuilding process. Owner Pat Riley has always been great at turning a team’s fortunes around and building contenders. Today, Miami has a fairly pedestrian roster after the brutal losses of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade who both returned back to the cities where they grew up. The biggest loss may be Chris Bosh to injury, who was expected to be the outside threat to complement the interior presence of Hassan Whiteside. Then when we look at the guards, we see a bunch of raw potential in the likes of Tyler Johnson, Josh Richardson, and Justise Winslow and a known commodity in Goran Dragic.
Dragic is interesting since, at 30, he has already hit his ceiling and doesn’t exactly fit into Riley’s rebuilding plans. By the time the rest of the roster hits its pinnacle, Dragic will be well past his prime. This has lead to plenty of trade rumors surrounding the Slovenian guard and according to Chris Mannix of the Vertical, it seems Dragic wouldn’t particularly mind playing elsewhere:
Dragic is open to a trade, league sources told The Vertical, and Miami has pursued that option. An early season swap with Sacramento for Rudy Gay fell apart when the Heat sought Darren Collison, sources said, and teams that have probed Miami about Dragic have found the Heat open to offers.
Throughout Dragic’s NBA career, he really hasn’t found a solidified home. Though he does bring borderline all-star talent to the table, he has bounced around the league playing for the Phoenix Suns twice, the Houston Rockets for a season and now Miami. The marriage between the Heat and Dragic seemed to be a good one at first, but the loss of Wade and Bosh has left Miami;s roster gutted and needing more talent to pair with Whiteside.
Trading Dragic now while he’s still putting up career numbers makes a ton of sense from both sides’ standpoints. Dragic knows his prime years are dwindling and likely wants to play for a contender which the Heat are clearly not right now. On the other side, even though Riley may hate the trench his team is currently in, Miami should look to trade Dragic to a team with a “win now” mentality while his value is still high and get some assets in return. The full rebuild process should start now as Whiteside is beginning to enter his prime at 27 and a new era must be ushered in to South Beach.
