Phoenix Suns guard Goran Dragic will likely be dealt before the trade deadline. If he goes on the trade block, or if on the off chance he stays with Phoenix through the season and becomes a free agent this summer, the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks are expected to pursue him.
Dragic made my list of the top five players likely to be traded this season, and all signs continue to point to him being dealt before the Feb. 19 deadline, given Phoenix's crowded backcourt and the possibility of losing him for nothing as a free agent - he can opt out of his contract after the season - in July.
On Wednesday, Basketball Insiders' Alex Kennedy confirmed Dragic appears to be unhappy in Phoenix and would likely test free agency this summer, if he isn't traded first.
"I think Goran Dragic is the free agent to watch who could leave. He was frustrated by the three point guard idea in Phoenix and has made it clear in multiple interviews that he'll weigh his options in free agency," Kennedy wrote. "One of these big-market teams will throw him a ton of money and I could see him being very tempted to take it and be the man there."
Two big-market teams expected to pursue him are the Lakers and the Knicks. Los Angeles has been reported to have interest in Dragic since the summer, and Lakers guard Nick Young even indicated he tried to recruit Dragic when their teams played on Monday.
"This offseason is going to be for us. It's going to work out," Young told reporters on Monday after losing to the Phoenix Suns, via the Los Angeles Daily News. "... I told Goran Dragic on the court (Monday), 'You might be my teammate next year.'"
The Knicks also consider Dragic a free-agency option to run Phil Jackson's offense, according to a report from the New York Post in December.
Unfortunately, Los Angeles and New York share the same problem: they both lack viable assets to make it worthwhile for Phoenix to trade Dragic. If Dragic were to become a free agent after the season, though, both point guard-needy teams would have enough cap room to offer him a lucrative contract.
