Former Miami Heat guard Goran Dragic reportedly would like to join the franchise’s front office once he has a chance to spend a year enjoying his family.
Dragic announced his retirement from basketball in December of 2023. He still has a charity farewell game coming up this month to celebrate the end of his playing career. He last played in the NBA during the 2022-23 season for the Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks.
In 51 games for the Bulls (all in a bench role that season), the one-time All-Star guard averaged 6.4 points, 1.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game while shooting 42.5 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from 3-point range before joining the Bucks.
During his short time in Milwaukee, Dragic appeared in seven games during the regular season, averaging 5.6 points in 11.9 minutes per game. The Heat ended up knocking the Bucks out of the playoffs in the first round in the 2022-23 season and eventually made the NBA Finals.
Some of the best years of Dragic’s career came in Miami, so it makes sense that he’d like to return to the franchise in his post-playing career. As a Heat player, Dragic averaged 16.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game while shooting 45.7 percent from the field and 36.5 percent from 3-point range.
He came to the Heat in a trade during the 2014-15 season and made an All-Star Game with Miami in the 2017-18 campaign. Dragic was also an integral part of Miami’s appearance in the 2020 NBA Finals, helping the Heat advance through the playoffs in the NBA’s Orlando, Fla. bubble.
Prior to the 2021-22 season, Dragic was shipped away by the Heat in the sign-and-trade deal that brought guard Kyle Lowry to Miami. After that deal, he spent time with the Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets, Bulls and Bucks.
Hopefully, Erik Spoelstra, Pat Riley and the rest of Miami’s decision-makers can find a way to get Dragic involved with the franchise. The Heat have shown a lot of loyalty to franchise legends in the past such as Udonis Haslem, so it’s possible that they’ll find a role for Dragic within the organization,
In the meantime, the lefty point guard, 38, is hopefully getting to enjoy some time with his family.