By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
After Marc and Pau Gasol, the Dragic family is about to be the next European duo of brothers that will play in the NBA. Goran was voted as the most improved player in the NBA and his brother, Zoran, is ready to make the big step from Spain to the United States.
Two years ago he signed a contract for 2+2 seasons with Unicaja. The Spaniards want desperately to keep him because he is one of the best players of the team during this season, while his contract is one of the lowest in the team, as he get paid less than 300.000 euros. According to the contract Unicaja has the right to extend it for the next two seasons until the 30th of June. And they will do it. But it’s more than possible this contract to be bought out, as it includes a 500.000 US dollars NBA-out clause.
A lot of NBA teams follow Zoran Dragic but Houston Rockets are emerging on that race as the front runners. We don’t expect the situation to resolve easily, as Dragic doesn’t want just to travel overseas, but to be a significant member in team which will sign him. At this point he’s concentrated in the playoffs of the Spanish league and after the end of the season he ‘ll go undergo a hernia surgery. He’ll be out of action for about one month and then ‘ll take part in the preparation of Slovenia for the upcoming FIBA World Cup. So he’ll not risk playing in the summer league like he did in the past.