HEAT’S DRAGIC NAMED MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSON IN SLOVENIA
MIAMI — Goran Dragic’s pop- ularity in Slovenia contin- ues to soar since leading his country to an improbable run through the EuroBasket Championships last summer.
The Heat’s All-Star point guard topped the list of the 100 Most Influential Slove- nians of 2017, beating out, among others, first lady Melania Trump and the Slovenian president. Basketball player Luca Doncic, the second-best player on the national team’s run to the title and a projected top-five pick in this year’s NBA draft, was second to Dragic on the list, which was announced last week.
Melania Trump, who was born in Slovenia, was seventh, and the country’s president, Borut Pahor, was the high- est-ranked politician at No. 8.
Dragic led Slovenia to its first EuroBasket champion- ship in August and was the tournament’s MVP. Slovenia’s victory was a stunning upset, as Dragic averaged 22.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists while Slovenia finished 9-0 in the tournament.
With the Heat eliminated from the NBA playoffs by Philadelphia on Tuesday, Dragic will return home in about three weeks and spend most of his summer in his hometown of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, a country of just more than 2 million people. Dragic, who turns 32 on May 6, retired from his national team and has no plans to play internationally this summer.
Dragic led the Heat in scoring during the regular season and playoffs this past season and was named to the AllStar team for the first time in his 10-year career.