Dragic, most recently with the Nets, will make $2.9 million, the veteran minimum, next season, the Athletics’ Sams Harania said on Twitter. Dragic, who has one All-Star season and one All-NBA season on his resume, played a critical role during the Heat’s NBA Finals run on the bubble campus of Orlando in 2020. The Slovenian guard’s production fell to land the following season amid injury woes and was ultimately dealt to the Raptors in the sign-and-trade deal that sent Kyle Lowry to the Heat in the 2021 offseason. Last year, Dragic appeared in just five games with Toronto before reaching an agreement to leave the club as they looked for a suitable trade. The 36-year-old was sent to the Spurs and negotiated a buyout with San Antonio, then stayed with the Nets as a free agent. In 16 games with Brooklyn, including six starts, Dragic averaged 7.3 PPG, 4.8 APG and 3.2 RPG while posting .376/.245/.739 shooting splits. Although his assist and rebound numbers were in line with his career averages of 4.8 APG and 3.1 RPG, his scoring efficiency at 25.5 MPG for Brooklyn was well short of his career averages in 14 years of 13.7 PPG at .460/.362/. 767 shots. The addition of Dragic marks Chicago’s fourth free agent signing this offseason. The team agreed to re-sign All-Star shooting guard Zach LaVine to a max deal, brings back deep bench forward Derrick Jones Jr. and will add technical backup center Andre Drummond to boost her rebounding. As Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype notes (via Twitter ), thanks to Dragic’s minimum salary deal, the Bulls are now about $1.7M under the luxury tax this season with 15 players under guaranteed contracts. Gozlan adds that Chicago has about $7 million left to use from the non-taxpayer mid-level exemption. Any further changes to the Bulls’ roster seem more likely to come via trade than free agency. Opening up a roster spot now to add another free agent would require trading or waiving a current Bull with a guaranteed salary. The team also has a $5MM trade exception that will expire after July 7th. If the Bulls make a deal, it could involve their backcourt depth. The team is adding to a guard group that already includes Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, Ayo Dosunmu and Coby White, although Ball’s health next season remains a question mark. KC Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago reports that the team expects this current roster to be intact for fall training camp, though he acknowledges that the team appears to have a surplus of guards.
