The Phoenix Suns have agreed to trade Goran Dragic to the Miami Heat, sources told ESPN.com’s Marc Stein on Thursday.
Dragic had been on the trading block this week because he wasn’t happy with his role in Phoenix’s crowded backcourt. He made it clear that he wouldn’t re-sign with the Suns when he becomes a free agent after this season.
“I don’t trust them anymore,” Dragic said after the Suns practiced Wednesday.
The 28-year-old guard’s points and assists are down considerably from last season, when he was third-team All-NBA. He said he doesn’t like his role of “standing in the corner” and wants to go to a team where he can “be a point guard, like in the past I was my whole life.”
“To be a point guard, to run the team and have the ball in my hands and try to make plays for others,” Dragic said. “That’s who I am.”
He often found himself playing the off guard or on the wing in deference to the Suns’ other point guards, Eric Bledsoe and Isaiah Thomas. Sometimes all three were on the court together.
“Last year was great. This year it’s different,” Dragic said. “… Standing in the corner, it’s not my game.”
Dragic’s agent, Bill Duffy, told the Suns on Tuesday that there was nothing they could do to keep his client with the team.
In a side deal, the Heat traded backup point guard Norris Cole to the New Orleans Pelicans for veteran swingman John Salmons. That deal gave the Pelicans a fill-in for the injured Jrue Holiday and the Heat some depth. Both players will be free agents at the end of the season.