Phoenix Suns’ Babby responds to Goran Dragic’s ‘unfair’ comments about franchise

There was no mincing of words.

“I don’t trust them anymore,” Goran Dragic said Wednesday when speaking to the media after practice. It happens too many times, two, three times. They give promises, OK, but — it’s hard, but at the same time, I wish them all the best.

“They were great to me, the past five years here. I’m always going to have a good memory about Phoenix, fans. I love this city, but it’s just hit that point of my career that it’s better for me and for my family to move on.”

Fighting words? Fighting words.

Friday, after the Suns traded Dragic to the Miami Heat, Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby responded during a post-trade deadline press conference at US Airways Center.

“We haven’t had a chance to talk over the past couple of days as we’ve been behind closed doors in our bunker getting these transactions done, but I wanted to offer a robust response to some of the comments made by Goran and his representatives,” Babby began. “We have absolutely no problem and take no issue with his right to decide where he’s going to play when he becomes a free agent, and the role that he wants to have on the team that he’s going to be playing for. That’s his prerogative, his right and we fully respect that.

“What I personally take issue with, however, is the unfair and I think unwarranted aspersions that he cast on our front office and, indirectly, on our organization as a whole.

“In all my years as a professional, as a lawyer, as an agent as an executive, I’ve learned that the only thing that really you have at the end of the day is your integrity and your trustworthiness, and it has always been my view that I will operate at the highest levels of professionalism and integrity and those people that work with me will operate in the same fashion. I’m confident that we do that.”

Babby praised the progress the organization has made over the last couple years, and noted that does not happen without making moves — some of which can be difficult.

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