Dragic clears hurdle in quest to join Suns

The Suns moved a step closer to bringing second-round pick Goran Dragic to Phoenix this year when a Slovenian court settled a dispute between two European teams over how much of Dragic’s potential buyout agreement they would receive.

Suns still confident they can land Dragic

But the Suns also flatly denied a report by SportingNews.com that they intend to sign the 22-year-old point guard to a contract of at least three years — and that a buyout agreement between Dragic and his Spanish team, Tau Cerimaca, has been reached.

Such a deal must occur before Dragic can leave for the NBA.

Suns vice president of basketball operations David Griffin said the team continues to monitor the situation closely and the team remains hopeful that Dragic will be in a Suns uniform this season.

The agreement between Tau and Dragic’s hometown team Geoplin Flovan, which technically owned his rights, could move the process along, provided that Tau can reach an agreement large enough to attract a quality player to replace Dragic on their roster.

Dragic has been quoted on several occasions this summer saying he expects to stay with Tau this season, where he would be a backup point guard. But the Suns appear ready to use a fair portion of their mid-level expectation to sign Dragic to a multi-year contract that will allow him to secure a buyout a year early and become the full-time backup to Steve Nash this season.