A Heat reunion for Bucks’ Dragic, Leonard, Crowder, as Dragic mulls retirement
No, Goran Dragic said, the thought never was about a reunion tour, certainly not anything like when Dwyane Wade returned to a Miami Heat roster that featured Dragic in 2018.
And yet if this is the NBA end for Dragic, as he said it well might be, there is a symmetry to this moment, not only as part of the Milwaukee Bucks roster that is facing the Heat in this first-round best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series, but also as part of a Heat reunion in the Bucks’ locker room.
In addition to Dragic, the Bucks’ playoff roster also features former Heat forward Jae Crowder and former Heat center Meyers Leonard. All three were on the Heat roster that advanced to the 2020 NBA Finals in the Disney World quarantine bubble.
“It feels good to be with familiar faces,” Dragic said, with the Heat facing the Bucks in Game 2 of their series on Wednesday night at Fiserv Forum. “We spent a lot of time together that year. We played tremendously well. And we’re back together.”
Dragic paused and smiled.
“And it’s definitely weird because now we’re playing against Miami,” he said, having been with the Heat from February 2015 until the end of the 2020-21 season.
It is a reunion and a matchup also not lost on Crowder and Leonard.
“It feels great to have those guys with me again, some good familiar faces who I have been to battle with,” said Crowder, the lone member of the former Heat trio in the Bucks’ primary rotation. “Just being on the same team and coming here at the same time as me, everything is fresh for us, even if it’s familiar. It’s great to have those guys with me.”
A reunion also not lost on Leonard.
“It’s pretty crazy, when you think about it,” he said. “That’s part of what made this such a perfect landing spot for me.”
For Leonard, 31, the opportunity is part of what he hopes is an NBA rebirth after uttering an anti-Semitic slur while livestreaming video gaming as a member of the Heat in 2021.
For Crowder, 32, it is a pathway back to title contention, as another round of free agency approaches in July.
But for Dragic, 36, it is all about the moment.
“I don’t know what’s next,” he said as he sat on the Bucks’ bench during pregame warmups. “It’s gonna depend on what happens this year.”
In the wake of making those 2020 NBA Finals with the Heat only to succumb to a foot injury in the series the Heat lost 4-2 to the Los Angeles Lakers, Dragic has been chasing his championship dream elsewhere.
After being dealt by the Heat to the Toronto Raptors in the 2021 offseason in the trade for Kyle Lowry, Dragic maneuvered his way to the Brooklyn Nets in time for last season’s playoffs, only to be swept out of the first round by the Boston Celtics.
He then moved in the offseason to the Chicago Bulls, only to endure a losing record before his midseason release.
And now this championship chase is as veteran depth on the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
“I mean it’s part of the business,” he said of a post-Heat whirlwind that largely has been lean on playing time. “I know I’m not young anymore. I could have re-signed with Brooklyn, but I didn’t want to be in that situation, because it was a little bit crazy. I just tried to find a team that’s calmer and to be more stable. I thought that would be with Chicago.”
That stability now comes with familiar faces, both in the Bucks’ locker room and the roster of the opposition in this opening-round series.
“I still love basketball,” he said with another smile. “So that’s why I’m still here.”
()