IN THE LANE

MIAMI GATEWAY: It turns out that Goran Dragic’s path to the Nets was a deal consummated in Miami over All-Star Weekend. That is where Steve Nash, Dragic’s former teammate with the Phoenix Suns, handled the sales pitch.“We were with Goran in Miami over the weekend and spent some brief time with him,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said.“It was really intriguing to me to see the relationship that Goran and Steve have. The respect they have for one another and really the respect Goran had for Steve for many, many years ago.” Dragic said six contenders were particularly aggressive in their pursuit (the Heat not believed to be one of them).“Steve was my mentor,” Dragic said of his initial NBA days.“It’s only fitting that when I came to the league, I played with him. And, you never know, to finish my career with him would be awesome.”

AMICABLE PARTING: Dragic said there were no hard feelings with how his brief tenure went with the Toronto Raptors after his offseason trade from the Heat.“We talked and they said, ‘Look, we’re going to trade you and do what’s best for your career,’ and we kind of agreed that I go home to be with my family, with my kids until everything resolves. And it did,” Dragic said.“They told me what they were going to do, and they did. I wish them all the best.”

FORMER HAUNT: Jimmy Butler’s take on the 76ers’ addition of Harden? Anything that helps his friend and former Philadelphia teammate Embiid is fine by him.“It didn’t have too much to do with me or my team,” Butler said according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.“I just want everybody to be happy and go out there and compete, smile, and love the situation they’re in, and just love the game. Butler added,“If [Harden is] happy there, then that’s where I want him to be. He’s with one of my best friends in Joel, and they got a really good team.”

DEAD MONEY: With Commissioner Adam Silver asked during All-Star Weekend about players being paid to stay away from their team while receiving full salary, as was the case when Dragic left the Raptors earlier in the season and has been the case throughout the season with John

Wall with the Houston Rockets, it offered a reminder that only after this season will Ryan Anderson’s stretch payments come off the Heat’s books. At $5.2 million, Anderson not only is earning more from the Heat this season than Tyler Herro ($4 million), but more than the combined salaries of Max Strus, Gabe Vincent and Dewayne Dedmon ( each counting $1.7 million against the cap). Anderson’s remaining salary was “stretched” over three seasons during the 2019 offseason in order to help create the cap space needed to sign Butler. The Heat, of course, hardly are alone in the stretch game, with Dedmon earning $2.9 million from the Detroit Pistons this season as part of his release in the 2020 offseason.

BEAR NECESSITIES: It didn’t take long after his arrival at the NBA trading deadline for Portland Trail Blazers teammates to learn former Heat forward Justise Winslow is called “Boo Boo Bear” by his mother. So amid a postgame interview, now-sidelined Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic let the secret out.“I really like him, Boo Boo Bear,” Nurkic said, according to the Oregonian. Said Winslow,“My mom will love it. Big shout out to her. Yeah, I don’t know if I want my teammates calling me that.” For now, all good, Winslow said,“I’m in a great place mentally, physically, as healthy as I’ve been a long time.”