Dragic released; Lowry to miss 10th game in a row. Why Heat hasn’t pursued a point guard

Former Heat point guard Goran Dragic, who started 282 games in parts of seven seasons with Miami, was waived by the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday, hours before the deadline to retain playoff eligibility.

Dragic’s availability coincides with continued uncertainty about the health of point guard Kyle Lowry, who was ruled out for Wednesday’s game against Philadelphia at Miami-Dade Arena because of knee soreness.

While the Heat always has maintained a fondness for Dragic and he would welcome a return, a source close to him said there are other more likely destinations for the veteran point guard at this point, with the Heat’s roster full and no regular minutes available in the team’s rotation.

Dallas is viewed as a potential landing spot; he could be reunited there with friend and fellow Slovenian Luka Doncic.

But the Heat could become more of a possibility for Dragic if Miami loses faith about Lowry’s return, something that hasn’t happened to this point. The Heat remains hopeful Lowry will return, though it could take another week or longer.

Because Dragic was waived by March 1, he can sign with any team before April 9 and remain playoff-eligible.

The Heat has the maximum 15 players signed to standard contracts, and signing Dragic or anyone else would require cutting a player, such as Haywood Highsmith or Omer Yurtseven.

The team flew Lowry to Philadelphia on Sunday and he participated in a practice and was upgraded to questionable for Monday’s game, before being downgraded to out.

After the court work in Philadelphia, Lowry determined that his knee wasn’t quite ready, and he won’t play Wednesday either.

This will be his 10th consecutive game sidelined because of knee soreness, after he missed four games with the same ailment in January.

Erik Spoelstra has said the team “wants to get him right and get him moving the way he’s capable of moving.”

The Heat hasn’t made an aggressive push for any of the point guards who became available in the buyout market, a list that includes Russell Westbrook (who signed with the Clippers), Patrick Beverley (Chicago), Reggie Jackson (Denver) and John Wall (who remains unsigned).

Miami also declined to offer its most appealing assets to Brooklyn for Kyrie Irving.

So with Gabe Vincent the only healthy natural point guard on the Heat’s roster, why hasn’t Miami aggressively pursued another point guard?

Five reasons have contributed:

▪ The Heat’s belief that Lowry will return soon from a knee injury, and its faith that point guard can be filled sufficiently by Vincent and Lowry. And even with Lowry sidelined, Miami believes it has enough ball-handlers with Vincent, Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo.

▪ The team likes how Vincent has played. Among all NBA point guards, he ranks among the league leaders in defensive field goal percentage against. As a starter, his scoring average is middle of the pack among starters.

▪ The Heat believed it needed two power rotation players, not just one. That led to the decision to sign Kevin Love - who was immediately inserted as a starter at power forward - and Cody Zeller, who stepped into a backup center role, a position that Miami believed needed to be upgraded.

Both have played well in their first three games with the Heat.

▪ Miami didn’t view any of the point guards available as a must-get. The Heat considered Westbrook and did considerable due diligence. But he’s a poor three-point shooter -already a Heat weakness - and a subpar defender.

The Heat solicited input about Westbrook from people it trusts, according to a source close to the situation. One NBA person respected by the Heat has advised industry peers not to sign Westbrook.

▪ Though the Heat had some interest in Irving (as Dan Le Batard noted), it wasn’t unanimous internally and the decision was made not to offer considerable assets.

At least one person inside the Heat’s hierarchy was against a pursuit because of Irving’s baggage and mercurial behavior. Another had more interest, but it never reached the point of an aggressive pursuit of Irving before Brooklyn dealt him to Dallas.

MORE INJURIES

The Heat listed Max Strus as questionable for Wednesday with right ankle soreness. Kevin Love is probable with a left knee hyperextension.

Omer Yurtseven is out; he’s on a G-League assignment as he makes his way back from October ankle surgery. Nikola Jovic (back) remains out.