Dwyane Wade is extremely pleased that the Heat acquired Goran Dragic, calling his new teammate the best point guard he’s ever been paired with, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel writes. “I haven’t played with a point guard with his ability since I’ve been here, in the league,” Wade said. “This is going to be great for everyone, a guy who can penetrate, set guys up, but also a guy who can score the basketball, as well, someone who’s very tough. You want a tough guy to play with. He is that. Needless to say, I was very happy about what we were able to do at the trade deadline.”
Here’s more from the Southeast Division:
- The trade of Andre Miller to the Kings for Ramon Sessions gave the Wizards approximately $2.5MM more space beneath the luxury tax threshold to work with, which could come in handy if Washington needs to sign another player, Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post notes.
- The Wizards hope that Sessions will perform well enough to lock down the backup point guard duties for next season, when he is owed a reasonable $2,170,465, J. Michael of CSNWashington.com writes. “There’s no question about that. We’re not going to take on any real long-term contracts. We don’t want to hurt our long-term flexibility,” Washington GM Ernie Grunfeld said. “At the same time, when a player comes available you want to look at it. He’s under contract this year and next year and if you look at backup point guards that are going to be available next year, it’s not a great list. It’s not that many of them.“
- Sessions is happy to be a member of the Wizards, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today relays. “Washington is a great situation for Ramon,” Sessions’ agent Jared Karnes said. “He’s obviously looking forward to going to the playoffs. He has a contract year coming up and this gives him a chance shake things up and be part of a playoff team. Ramon appreciated his time in Sacramento and wishes them success.“