Miami Heat point guard Goran Dragic is an unrestricted free agent this summer and the team is intent on retaining him. But apparently not intent enough to offer him a max deal.
ESPN NBA insider Marc Stein reported on Saturday night that the Heat are planning to extend Dragic a 5-year, $80 million offer once free agency kicks off this July.
The offer would be significantly less than a five-year max deal which would earn the Slovenian guard north of $100 million. Stein’s report also said that the Heat plan to be “highly aggressive in trying to secure a commitment” from Dragic early in the free agency period.
Dragic was the crown jewel of the 2014 trade deadline with the Heat acquiring him for spare parts from the Phoenix Suns at the 11th hour. He averaged 16.6 points per game and 5.3 assists per game on 50.2 percent shooting from the field in 26 games for Miami but with the unrelenting litany of injuries that plagued the team last season, Dragic failed to lead the Heat to the playoffs.
The fifth year that Miami is planning to offer the 29-year-old is significant because as owners of Dragic’s Bird Rights, they are the only team in the NBA able to do so. Other suitors can offer Dragic a maximum offer of four years, $85 million. What the Heat are reportedly putting on the table for Dragic would amount to an average annual value of about $5 million less than a rival team offering the max. With the additional security provided by a fifth year and no income tax in the state of Florida, the difference becomes almost negligible.
How Pat Riley and Co. proceed with Dragic’s free agency is, of course, affected by the recent uncertainty with franchise superstar Dwyane Wade’s future with the team. While it has begun to look like the three-time NBA champion might seriously consider leaving the Heat, this latest development serves as good news for Wade’s prospects of staying in Miami. The Heat are earmarking a significant amount of money with this reported Dragic offer and that could signal that Wade is still in the franchise’s long-term plans.
Ultimately, this offer would put Dragic in a bit of a bind but it’s a shrewd move by Miami management. With his brother Zoran already under contract and Goran himself publicly stating his desire to remain in South Beach, the Heat are hardballing him a little bit and that’s what they have to do. With nearly $100 million still committed to Chris Bosh through 2019, Hassan Whiteside’s impending free agency in 2016, uncertainty surrounding the futures of Wade and Luol Deng, and Pat Riley supposedly wanting to go after Kevin Durant next offseason, retaining Goran Dragic for at or below his market value would constitute a huge victory for the team, especially in an increasingly point guard-driven league.
South Beach has built a culture of sacrifice and that’s something that Pat Riley and the rest of the Miami Mafia have to sell Dragic on. Sit him down and say, “All these guys have sacrificed for the team in the past and this is what it’s gotten them.” Then throw championship rings on the table in front of him. And with this reported 5-year, $80 million deal, it looks like that’s the strategy they’re going to pursue for re-signing Goran Dragic.
