The Chicago Bulls agreed to add Patrick Beverley this past week after the veteran guard changed teams and was subsequently waived at the NBA Trade Deadline.
As noted by K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports, in order to free up space for Beverley the Bulls will release either Goran Dragic or Tony Bradley.
Either way Dragic has seen his role in Chicago absolutely dwindle to nothing over the past few weeks, so it wouldn’t be all that shocking to see him elsewhere before season’s end.
This year Dragic is averaging 6.4 points in 15.4 minutes per game while shooting 35 percent from beyond the arc. The Bulls don’t have a place for him, but another title contender most certainly would.
At the moment two teams seem like the likeliest options for Dragic.
The Los Angeles Lakers have been linked closely to John Wall and are one of five teams that are pursuing the former All-Star, but if that fails to materialize, Dragic could be a very solid Plan B.
While he has admittedly struggled to find a consistent place in the league since his run with the Miami Heat, Dragic is still a very reliable off-the-bench option for a team like the Lakers that needs stability in the backcourt.
The other obvious suitor for Dragic is the Dallas Mavericks. He and Luka Doncic have always seemed to want to play together, but for one reason or another it just never worked out. This could be the opportunity to remedy that.
Why could this not occur, though? Well, Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison has said repeatedly in recent months that the team is stacked from a backcourt perspective already. And looking at the roster, it’s hard to see where Dragic fits.
Plus, it’s hard to forget what NBA insider Tim MacMahon previously said about Jason Kidd’s thoughts on Dragic.
Tim Bontemps roasts the idea of Dallas signing Dennis Schroder and MacMahon says as he understands it, *Jason Kidd* doesn’t think Dragic has any juice left 😬 pic.twitter.com/IIuwzU3vGF
— Kirk Henderson (@KirkSeriousFace) September 8, 2022
“My understanding is that J-Kidd doesn’t think Dragic has any juice left, so the Mavs basically asked him to be a foot shorter version of Boban [Marjanovic] and sit at the end of the bench all season,” MacMahon said on The Hoops Collective. “He said hell no.”
So where that leaves Dragic is unclear.
Charissa Thompson is having herself a proper NFL offseason. https://t.co/8JrSFiVV8c
— Game 7 (@game7__) February 21, 2023
One way or another, it feels like the 36-year-old isn’t long for Chicago.
Could Dragic end up with either the Lakers or Mavericks ahead of the playoffs? Time will tell.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
