In the days leading up to last month’s trade deadline, Goran Dragic went nuclear on the Suns front office. He made it clear in no uncertain terms that he was not going to re-sign in Phoenix and that he wanted a trade, preferably to Miami, New York or Los Angeles.
The Suns made it happen, shipping him—and his brother, Zoran—to Miami. And now that he got his wish, he’s walking back some of his harsh public comments about his former team.
From Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling:
It was hard in the days before the trade deadline because I had asked for a trade, so you don’t know what the team is going to do. It’s kind of an uncomfortable situation because you go to practice, you see your teammates, but they know that you asked for a trade.
When I now look back on what I said about the Suns before the trade—”I don’t trust them anymore…I don’t feel comfortable with my situation”—I feel bad, because it came out a little too harsh. I didn’t mean it like that, but it happened in that moment, so I cannot go back and change it. I just said what I was thinking.
I’m an honest guy, and I had never said something bad about that organization. They were always great to me—they were like family—so I didn’t mean that. But at the same time, I thought that the situation was not good anymore for me, so that’s why it came out like that.
I apologized to Suns owner Robert Sarver. We had a good conversation—he was always there for me and my family. He knew that I was not going to re-sign with them, so I wanted to do something before the trade deadline and hopefully they could get some players or some picks. I really appreciated what he did—trading me.
It’s certainly understandable how Dragic felt. He had a career year last season playing alongside fellow point guard Eric Bledsoe, and then the Suns brought in yet another scoring point guard, Isaiah Thomas, this summer. Still, his comments before the deadline were unusually blunt. Asking for a trade is always an awkward situation because it’s difficult for your teammates to not take it as an insult, even when everybody understands that the NBA is a business and everyone has to do what’s best for them.
But if Dragic was going to leave anyway, it’s better for the Suns that they were able to get some value back for him. And Dragic got his wish in Miami. It worked out well for everybody.
