Less than two years ago, the Miami Heat re-signed center Hassan Whiteside to a four-year contract worth an estimated $98 million, with the expectation being that he would take his game to the next level. However, lingering inconsistency that led to a drop in playing time has apparently resulted in the Heat’s trade options with regard to Whiteside having taken a considerable hit.
ESPN’s Zach Lowe wrote an article that focused on whether or not the New Orleans Pelicans should re-sign their pending free agent DeMarcus Cousins, who’s currently rehabilitating a torn Achilles tendon that was suffered on Jan. 26.
Losing a player of Cousins’ considerable talent for nothing would be difficult for the Pelicans, but Lowe notes that without the volatile Cousins in the lineup, the Pelicans have actually looked like a better team. One suggestion he offers is to re-sign Cousins to a team-friendly contract and then trade him soon after that deal is signed.
Among the teams that Lowe mentions as possible destinations is Miami, though he throws cold water on what value Whiteside would hold:
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“Hassan Whiteside’s trade value has fallen so low, the Pelicans may not be interested in any sort of swap. (Whether Miami would be, even with Cousins’ injury, is a fascinating question.)”
During the past season, Whiteside played in just 54 regular season games and averaged 14.0 points, 11.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocked shots per game. All three statistical numbers are declines from the previous year, which was only part of the problem for head coach Erik Spoelstra.
That’s because Whiteside’s decline in playing time resulted in him going public with criticism about his status on multiple occasions. In the recently concluded five-game playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers, Whiteside played just 77 minutes combined in the series, including just 10 minutes in Tuesday’s night’s finale.
The decline in value is coupled with the fact that two years remain on his contract, with Whiteside set to make $24.4 million next season and then just over $27 million during the 2019-20 NBA season. Few teams are likely to invest that much in an enigmatic player whose consistency is suspect.
Getting rid of Whiteside is something the Heat braintrust is likely considering, yet what they can get for him at the present time isn’t something that’s likely to make them pull the trigger just yet.
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