3 critical offseason decisions for the Miami Heat
By John Buhler
2. Do the Heat exercise club options on veterans Goran Dragic, Andre Iguodala?
Though bringing back Oladipo on a new contract may not be as pricey as the Heat initially thought, it will be a pretty penny to keep Goran Dragic and Andre Iguodala in Miami uniforms going forward. These savvy veterans have team options for the 2021-22 NBA season, and they are not cheap. Dragic would command $19.4 million, while Iguodala would be getting $15 million from Miami.
While Dragic has been a mainstay in Miami since being traded over from the Phoenix Suns in 2015, 2021-22 will be his age-35 season. Not only is he no longer an All-Star-level player anymore, but Dragic doesn’t start very often now in his mid-30s. Dragic made a combined 14 starts the last two seasons. He has not played in 75 regular-season games since 2017-18.
In two years with the Heat, Iguodala has played in 84 games but only made five starts. Though he has been a high-end reserve player since the birth of the Splash Brother Golden State Warriors, 2021-22 will be Iguodala’s age-38 season out of Arizona. He has not averaged double figures in scoring since his one year with the Denver Nuggets way back in 2012-13. It has been that long.
Ultimately, Dragic and Iguodala are too old for the Heat to exercise both of their club options. They might come back for a lesser amount, but no more than one of them should get their team options picked up under any stretch of the imagination. Since Miami is in dire need of a resurgence after this bad postseason showing, it would not be shocking to see Dragic and Iguodala playing for somebody else next year.