After 14 years of illustrious career, Chicago Bull’s Goran Dragic’s career may finally come to an end. As the 36-year-old Slovenian point guard has accumulated many miles over the years, at some point, this long journey had to come to an end and.
As it looks like, this season may become that point after he hinted about his retirement in a recent interview. The former Miami Heats’ star has averaged 30 minutes per game for almost 1000 games during his NBA career.
Dragic signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Bulls, where he’ll act as a mentor and backup for the team’s younger players. The veteran point guard realizes he is approaching the end of his illustrious career as he’s savoring every last minute of his career.
“I’m probably close to the end of my career. I just want to enjoy it and win games,” Dragic hinting the end of his long-last NBA career.
“It means a lot. I never thought I’m going to be in the league for 15 years. When I came to the league, it was not easy. I needed some time to adjust to this style of play and the culture and everything. But I always worked hard. I always tried to be better the next season. I feel like because of that I’m still here,” Goran said.
Dragic first made his mark in the NBA in 2008 when he became the 45th pick after San Antonio Spurs picked up the point guard from the draft. The Slovenian was Steve Nash’s backup when he moved to the Phoenix Suns before becoming a star with the Houston Rockets and Suns.
He earned his first all-star appearance in 2018 with the Miami Heats, before going to the NBA finals in 2020, where the heats lost to the Lakers.
As an athlete, it’s not easy to fight with age. No matter how much a player wants to keep on going. Dragic is feeling the effect of 15 years of NBA journey in his body along with 12 years of international journey with Slovenia.
“You know, I played professionally when I was 15. It’s a lot of mileage that’s on my body. After every NBA season, I play for my national team for 12, 13 years. In those years, I didn’t have a break. Now, it’s a little bit different. But I’m still here. I’m still enjoying basketball. That’s the most important thing,” the Bulls’ point guard stated.
Even though Dragic is now intending to play this season, but even if he decides to hang up his boots in the coming days, he’ll go down as the best Slovenian Basketball player of all time.
