What Luka 'Can't Say' About Mavs' Trade for Dragic
DALLAS - Goran Dragic is playing a waiting game. Play for the Toronto Raptors after being swapped there by Miami in the Kyle Lowry deal? Speak out loud about not wishing to be in Toronto (which he's done)? Hope for a buyout or trade to the Dallas Mavericks?
That's an attractive one, maybe to all parties - most of all, to Luka Doncic, the Mavs star who idolizes fellow Slovenian Dragic in a big-brother sort of way.
So, Luka, what say you?
"I don't think we can say,'' Doncic said with a grin while on the stage to announce his new $207 million supermax deal. "We don't want to get fined by the NBA."
Indeed, too much talking has already gotten one of the involved parties in trouble, as Dragic has been so open about wishing to team up with fellow Slovenian Doncic that he addressed his Toronto tie by saying, “Toronto is not my preferred destination. I have higher ambitions. We’ll see.”
Ouch.
He later apologized, saying, “My message basically, to all Toronto fans, is: I would like to apologize. It didn’t come out the right way. I know they love their team, and they should be proud, it is one of the best organizations in the NBA. They’ve already won a championship ...
"I love basketball, I love to play and I’m going to give 100-percent wherever I play. Right now, I’m [with] Toronto and that’s my main thing to think about.”
Doncic and Dragic played together when Slovenia won gold at EuroBasket 2017. It is clearly their shared vision that success together could happen again.
It might have to wait until September, and it might cost Dallas a piece. But Dragic would help ease the play-making burden on Doncic and would fulfill owner Mark Cuban's stated summer goal to find a "secondary ball-handler.''
But Goran Dragic has to wait, and is wise to not talk about it anymore.
And Luka Doncic has to wait, and has already showed wisdom beyond his 22 years to not talk about it at all.
