Goran Dragic's "Farewell Game" Is A Tremendous Idea That Absolutely Needs To Become The Norm

Michael Reaves. Getty Images.

Goran Dragic isn't going to make the Hall Of Fame. He didn't get to have a retirement tour where every team he played gave him some sort of gift. But make no mistake, Goran Dragic was awesome as a player. A 15 year NBA career, in my opinion there were three different Dragic's. The early 7 Seconds or Less Suns version, where he was this young intriguing point guard off the bench. Then there was the Round 2 Suns version after a stop in HOU where he exploded into a starting caliber player and made an All NBA team. From there it was off to MIA where Dragic would spend the most years of his career (7) where he made his first All Star team. 

A player who I could consider a killer on the court, a guy who always seemed to make big time shots in huge moments, the best way I would describe Goran Dragic as an NBA player is "solid". He's just a solid ass point guard who you know is going to battle until the end. Dragic would get hot during games, and somehow became the most unstoppable player on the floor. You don't get a nickname of "The Dragon" for nothing. Career averages of 13.3/3.0/4.7 on 45/36% in 946 total regular season games and 14.2/3.3/3.3 on 44/34% in 62 postseason games, he had a hell of a run over these last 15+ years. Then you add in everything he's done for Slovenia, he's definitely a player worth celebrating.

So while the HOF may be out, instead Dragic is getting something that I find to be an incredible idea. 

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The "Farewell Game" is a tremendous idea that 1000000% needs to become the norm. This is WAY cooler than watching someone get a gift and pretend they like it. Fuck that. This is how the legends of the NBA and the game of basketball should be honored. Get all his buddies together and run some 5 on 5. Look at those names! I'm pretty sure this is the first time Chris Bosh has played basketball since his blood clot scare which is awesome, just like it's awesome seeing shit like this

Think of how fun it was to watch Steph/KD/LeBron during Team USA this summer. You're telling me when they start finally riding off into the sunset it wouldn't be awesome to see them all play together again in a game like this? Of course it would. It's partly what made all those Pro-Am runs during the lockout season so entertaining to watch. Legends teaming up will always be must watch, and frankly it wouldn't shock me one bit if this became the norm. With the league involved

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and streaming this game on their app, I see this as just the beginning. There's no reason not to keep doing it moving forward, especially with the type of legends that are either recently retired or about to. For example, why can't we do this for Melo? Or Blake Griffin? Or Kemba? Or John Wall? Do it for charity or something so everyone wins. The point is, I would watch every single one of those farewell games and would very much like for this to become a thing. Adam Silver needs to spend less time trying to make the NBA Cup a tradition and instead put his focus on these farewell games becoming a tradition moving forward. Seems like a no brainer to me.