Veteran point guard Goran Dragic, which was traded from to heat up to me wild birds In the Kyle Lowry Signing and trading last week’s deal, he apologized on Monday for comments he made in his native Slovenia about the trade, writes Michael Grange from Sportsnet.ca.

back clip on Twitter On Monday, Dragic was speaking to Slovenian journalists with the English commentary, “Toronto is not my favorite destination. I have higher ambitions.” While there was some uncertainty about whether Maybe something is missing in the translationDragic did not claim to have misquoted. However, he told Grange that the context of the quote is missing.

“I was downtown and the reporters were there and I was asked about Toronto and it was basically taken out of context,” Dragic said. “I told them I had seven years in Miami and that this would be my favorite destination because my family is there and everything, not Toronto.”

Dragic, who was on an expiring $19.5 million contract, was always expected to be part of the Raptors’ return to Lowry after the Heat made his team choice, but there has been speculation for most of the past week that he could flip to the third team. the Mavericks It was frequently mentioned as a potential destination, given that Dallas was looking for a guard in free agency, and joining the Mavs would give Dragic a chance to team up with his Slovenian teammate. Luka Doncic.

Dragic could still be transferred to the Mavs or another team at some point, but no deal appears imminent, and he told Grange he’s ready to spend the 2021/22 season in Toronto.

“My message, basically, to all Toronto fans, is that I’d like to apologize,” Dragic said. “It didn’t come out the right way. I know they love their team, they should be proud of it, it’s one of the best organizations in the NBA. They’ve already won a championship and I haven’t, so what I said wasn’t really appropriate.

“…I was always a professional. You could ask a group of people. Everywhere I played, wherever I would play, I would be a professional and do my job,” He completed. “I love basketball, I love playing and I will give 100% wherever I play. Now I am (with) Toronto and that is the main thing to think about.”

He was asked during an appearance on 590 The Fan in Toronto about Dragic, the general manager of the Raptors Bobby Webster He warned that the 35-year-old’s comments had been translated into English and that he wanted to “get it straight” from the base to understand what he meant, Grange wrote. Webster also stressed that the Raptors are not a rebuilding team looking to weed out veterans.

“We feel we’re going to be competitive, we have a core – as we talked about – that’s been around for a while and won at the highest level as well,” Webster said. “So I think we’ll give it some time here just to see how he (Dragic) will fit in and whether or not he likes it here. I think he’s a professional and he’s been around a lot and obviously has a right to want to make the most of his years as his career comes here… So I don’t think it’s in any way slight or anything like that.”

Lori was sign and trade Officially completed On Friday, so it can no longer be expanded to a third team, but Dragic can be switched to a third team immediately as long as he is not pooled with another player in the deal.