Miami has been scraping by with point guard Goran Dragic missing time — the Heat are 5.8 points per 100 possessions worse when he is off the court, most of that coming from an offense that becomes very defendable without him. Still, the Heat have gone 7-8 in the games he’s missed, and while he has missed 12-of-14 games with a knee issue the Heat are 6-6.
That might be tough to keep up over the next couple of months, which is how long Dragic is reportedly going to be out following knee surgery on Wednesday, a story broken by Shandel Richardson of The Athletic.
Goran Dragic is undergoing a knee scope today.
— Shandel Richardson (@ShandelRich) December 19, 2018
The recovery time is expected to be six-to-eight weeks, the standard for this kind of surgery.
The Heat at 13-16 are just a game out of the playoffs as you read this, but without Dragic for a couple of months other teams will be calling Pat Riley to see if Miami will become sellers at the trade deadline. Teams will have their eye on Josh Richardson and Bam Adebayo, but Miami may prefer to trade Kelly Olynyk, Justise Winslow, or ideally Hassan Whiteside.
