Goran Dragic, one of international basketball history’s underrated successes, retired from the sport with a charity match that featured legends and teammates who were close to him.
The “Night of the Dragon,’’ which was held on Saturday in his home country Slovenia, was headlined by a match placing Dragic and few teammates against Slovenian star Luka Donic. Other players present were Steve Nash, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki, and Nikola Jokic. They honored Dragic’s last high-profile appearance on the basketball court.
Proceeds from the charity game and adjacent contests were donated to the Botrstvo v sportu program of the Friends of Youth Foundation Ljubljana Moste-Polje and the Goran Dragic Foundation.
Dragic also played against his brother, Zoran, whom he was briefly teammates with on the Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat in 2014-15. The evening closed with a mini-soccer match and on-court moments with family, including his son, father, and nephew.
The Suns traded for Dragic’s rights after he was chosen 45th overall in the 2008 Draft. He shone as a substitute point guard behind Nash, before he was traded to Houston. His time at Houston was marked by a 23-point fourth quarter in Game 3 of the 2010 Western Conference semifinals against the San Antonio Spurs.
He returned to Phoenix in 2012 through free agency, where he became the lead guard and won the award for 2013-14 Most Improved Player and All-NBA Third Team honors.
Dragic took another step forward in his career when he joined the Miami Heat in 2015. The 6-foot-3 lefty led Slovenia to an unexpected and unprecedented championship at EuroBasket 2017. He was named an Eastern Conference All-Star the following season. Dragic also played a significant role in the Heat reaching the 2020 NBA Finals.
He averaged between 16 and 21 points per match in five different seasons while playing 946 games. His 4,405 career assists place 97th all-time. The Slovenian basketball team retired Dragic’s No.3.
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