Miami Heat point guard Goran Dragic says he’s been putting in the work to ensure he stays in shape in case the NBA season resumes at some point this year, but doesn’t want to jump straight into a playoff situation.
The Slovenian star spoke to The Athletic this week, opening up on how he and his family have been coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting NBA shutdown. Asked if he would rather play a few regular-season games before the playoffs or go straight into it, Dragic claimed he would be in a state of readiness if the season were to continue but acknowledged that it might be more difficult for other players.
“I would rather have a few friendly games and then have the playoffs,” he said. “For me personally, I’m working out. I’m running around the house and maintaining my shape. I think I’ll be in good shape. But like I said, it might be tough for guys who live in apartments, and we might need around a couple of weeks to get into shape as a group. I would rather have a couple of games and then jump into the playoffs.”
Dragic admitted that the ongoing experience has been a scary one for his family, but his children don’t fully understand what’s going on.
“My kids are asking questions and we try to explain what is going on,” he remarked. “It’s tough to understand at their age. They’re asking why they’re doing home schooling and why we’re staying at home. For my wife, the good thing is now I’m at home. But it’s different.
Every time you go to the stores you’re afraid. You have those crazy thoughts like what if you catch something and bring it back home. We’ve been careful, sanitizing everything. We’re being home and we’ll manage. Some people live in apartments and we’re lucky that we have a backyard and we can go out and do stuff.”
