Goran Dragic on up-and-down season and the physical challenges he faced: ‘It was not easy’
Goran Dragic is not one to make excuses, but not even he can deny that injuries and other issues impacted his season.
From the torn plantar fascia that prevented him from going through his usual offseason workouts and even slowed him to start this past season, to missing three games because of a strained groin, sitting out nine games because of a sprained ankle, four games because of lower back spasms and another four on the second night of back-to-back sets, it was challenging for the Miami Heat’s veteran guard to find consistency.
Dragic, who turned 35 in May, missed a total of 22 games this past season mainly because of injuries. The longest stretch of consecutive games that he played in was 11.
“It was not easy,” Dragic said just days before the Heat’s season ended last month in a first-round playoff sweep. “I opened the season with an injury. Basically I didn’t have no training camp, no basketball activities until [team practices began]. I think I opened the season pretty well. I played well. Then just nagging injuries, a couple of injuries, COVID protocols, players in and out of the lineup. Sometimes you’re starting, sometimes not. It’s tough to catch a rhythm like that when you play two or three games and then you’re out for nine.
“But no excuses. It is what it is. It has been tough. But for me, I was talking to the coaching staff. The most important thing for me was just to get through this season because we didn’t have no break, and just try to be healthy for the playoffs.”
Dragic was an important part of the Heat’s winning formula during its run to the NBA Finals in 2019-20, averaging a team-high 20.9 points on 45.2 percent shooting, to go with 4.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists in a starting role in the first three rounds of the playoffs before tearing the plantar fascia in his left foot in Game 1 of the Finals.
Used primarily in a bench role this past season, Dragic averaged 13.4 points while shooting 43.2 percent from the field and 37.3 percent on threes, 3.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 50 regular-season games. He averaged the fewest amount of points and minutes (26.7) since he was traded to the Heat in the middle of the 2014-15 season.
“Every player goes through ups and downs. This is part of being an athlete,” Dragic said. “I’m not saying that I’m not worried ever. But deep down, I’m calm because I’m experienced enough that I know that the most important games are [in the playoffs]. I know what kind of player I am.
“Of course, there was one stretch that I didn’t feel well physically, mentally and I think every player goes through those tough times during the season. But the bigger picture in my mind was I’m going to get through it, I’m going to get through it. And when the time comes, I’m going to start playing better basketball. I feel like that happened maybe two weeks before the playoffs.”
That’s exactly what happened, as Dragic averaged 16.2 points while shooting 44.8 percent from the field and 51.5 percent on threes, 2.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists over his final five games of the regular season. He then went on to average a team-high 16 points while shooting 42.6 percent from the field during the Heat’s short-lived playoff run.
Dragic said his body felt “much better” toward the end of the regular season, with the lingering effects from last postseason’s foot injury spilling into the start of this past season. He noted that the torn plantar fascia gave him issues for “maybe like half of the season” before he was able to move past it.
“The funny thing is I’ve had no issues with the knee the last two or three years,” said Dragic, who played in a career-low 36 games in 2018-19 because of right knee surgery in December 2018. “The issue that I had was the foot injury. They told me that the foot is changing because you don’t have those bands anymore. So basically everything changes — how you walk, how you run. So you need to strengthen those muscles and everything. Then come different injuries like the groin, the back. This is part of sports. After the injury, you need to build your body back.”
Dragic continued on the impact of last year’s foot injury: “Even during the season, I had a little bit of an issue with that foot. Because when you snap your bands, I still have one band left so all the pressure goes to that band. So you need to be careful and try to do foot massages and everything. It was tough. Every offseason, I’m always working. I’m always touching the ball, putting shots up and everything. Unfortunately because of the injury, I couldn’t do that.”
This offseason will be longer than last year’s historically short break between seasons, and there’s no injury that will keep Dragic from going through basketball workouts. According to the 2021-22 schedule outline recently forwarded to teams, training camps will open Sept. 28 and the regular season will begin Oct. 19 as the NBA moves back to its traditional October-June format.
Dragic, who has spent the past six-plus seasons in Miami, has a $19.4 million team option in his contract for next season as part of the two-year, $37 million deal he signed last offseason.
If the Heat declines Dragic’s option for next season, he will become an unrestricted free agent but Miami will still retain his Bird rights and can exceed the salary cap to re-sign him up to his maximum salary. This would probably only be done by the Heat to bring back Dragic at a lower salary than the $19.4 million option in his contract.
“At times, it haunts me. I don’t know, I see the Lakers and I just remember,” Dragic said of injuring his foot early in last year’s championship series as the Heat fell two wins short of a title. “It’s one of those situations that it’s still painful. But it is what it is. I accepted it. I dealt with it. It’s in the past, so let’s move on.”
This story was originally published June 14, 2021 at 9:40 AM.
