Report: Goran Dragic Wants Out Of Phoenix Even If Isaiah Thomas Is Dealt; Dragic Desires Knicks, Heat Or Lakers In Trade

The situation in Phoenix with Goran Dragic just got more interesting last night, and he’s become the de facto player swirling around Thursday’s trade deadline.  Reports earlier yesterday suggested Dragic would re-sign in Phoenix this offseason if the team dealt Isaiah Thomas. Now we hear Dragic’s agent, Bill Duffy, has signaled to the Suns he will not re-sign this summer as a restricted free agent.

Phoenix picked up Zeke last summer in a head-scratching move to add a third ball-dominant point guard to a backcourt that already had two point guards in Eric Bledsoe and Dragic. So far this year, all of Goran’s numbers are down from his All-NBA 2013-14 campaign, so it makes sense he’d start to wonder about his long-term viability in the desert.

Sam Amick of USA Today first reported last night Dragic’s situation in Phoenix was nearing an end.

According to two people with knowledge of the situation, the representatives for the Phoenix Suns point guard told team officials in a Tuesday meeting that he has no plans to re-sign in Phoenix this summer as a free agent. The people spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

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According to one of the people, the Suns were given a list of seven teams with which Dragic would be willing to re-sign if traded. The Los Angeles Lakers are known to be on the list, but the Houston Rockets – who have coveted a Dragic return for quite some time now – are not.

On that last point, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported Dragic indicated the top trio of teams he’d like to join: the Heat,  the Knicks and the Lakers, with the Pacers as a long-shot even though they’ll likely return to contender status when Paul George returns from a broken leg:

Agent Bill Duffy delivered the Phoenix Suns a list of preferred trade destinations that includes the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks and Miami Heat, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The Indiana Pacers have maintained a consistent interest with Dragic, and their need for a point guard – and ability to be a contender with the return of Paul George – makes them a destination Dragic could possibly OK, league sources said.

One team that’s coveted Dragic almost from the moment he left them to sign when Phoenix in 2012, Houston, is also in the mix. Because of the way they tacitly agreed to let him leave in free agency that summer, convincing him to re-sign would be difficult. Still, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein, they still might take a gamble and hope the addition of a fifth year entices him to re-sign this summer.

The real issue is that fifth year. That’s what non-contending teams are banking on.

If Phoenix can’t find a lucrative enough trade partner — likely a first-round pick and a possible player with All-Star talent — then he might flee in free agency over the summer, even though it would be for one less year.

This morning, the Boston Celtics got into the mix, and Danny Ainge has a relationship with Suns GM Ryan McDonough. The Celtics have plenty of draft picks, so it’s not totally out of the question, but its a big gamble he re-signs in the summer.

Don’t discount LA getting Dragic now, rather than in July’s free agency where he’d likely command four years for $80 million.

Opening trade offers between the Lakers and Suns last week involved Phoenix putting Isaiah Thomas on the table instead to appease Dragic, but the Lakers balked. Adding to LA’s problems is the possibility they fall outside of the top 5 in the 2015 Draft, at which point the Suns would get their pick as part of the Steve Nash trade two summers ago.

Here are Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN reporting:

If the Lakers feel as though they have the inside track to Dragic in free agency, they could elect to pull out of the current trade hunt and simply wait for July, when they could offer a four-year deal estimated in the $80 million range. Another potential complication for the Lakers is the fact they will forfeit their 2015 first-round pick to the Suns if it falls out of the top five of the lottery as part of the Steve Nash trade in 2012. The Lakers’ likely improvement, were they to acquire Dragic this week, would thus endanger their chances of holding onto that pick, which team officials regard as an essential piece to L.A.’s rebuilding efforts around Kobe Bryant.

Sources told Shelburne that the Suns are prepared to discuss a Dragic deal with the Lakers this week if L.A. was willing to completely remove the top-five protection currently on that draft pick. The Lakers, sources said, also rejected that.

If Dragic isn’t dealt by 3 p.m. Thursday, he’ll likely sign in a big market — New York, LA or Miami — when he becomes a restricted free agent. Barring a last-minute push by the Celtics, Kings or Rockets, that’s liable to happen if Phoenix can’t find the right trade.

The Dragic news comes as a bit of a surprise. He had put down roots in Phoenix, and had said before the season started he was going to opt out — he has a $7.5 million player option next season — and then re-sign in Phoenix. The presence of Isaiah Thomas, the recently re-signed Eric Bledsoe and the presence of Gerald Green (also getting discussed in trades this week) sapped Dragic’s touches this season.

Goran’s usage percentage is down, and so is his player efficiency rating. He’s an All-NBA caliber player as last season’s production showed, and he’ll be one of the bigger names in free agency this summer. The trade deadline just turned into an inferno of Dragic rumors, and it’s only likely escalate as we come up on the deadline tomorrow.