There is strong support among numerous people inside the Heat to trade Hassan Whiteside, and the question this offseason becomes this: To what measures will Pat Riley go to dump the two years and $52 million left on his contract.
Amid his public comments that he would intervene in the Whiteside/Erik Spoelstra disconnect, Riley is now mulling what to do with Whiteside, according to someone close to the situation.
If the Heat can snag a high-quality rotation piece for Whiteside, it’s a no-brainer, because his dissatisfaction with his role and playing time, and the unevenness of his play, have exasperated numerous Heat people.
The more difficult question that Riley must decide is whether to deal Whiteside if he gets back clearly less value in return — but less value with shorter contracts.
In order to have the cap space to offer max contracts in 2019 for potential free agents Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving or Klay Thompson, Miami must purge the contracts of Whiteside and Goran Dragic, or Whiteside and at least one other player earning significant money. Whiteside has a $27.1 million player option for 2019-20, which he seems likely to exercise.
So the first step toward clearing space is dealing Whiteside for a contract with one season left.
But here’s the problem: Only a few teams would be realistic potential suitors for Whiteside, who’s due $24.4 million next season before the bump to $27.1 million in 2019-20, and his late March rant and poor playoff series (albeit in limited playing time against Philadelphia) will make it even more difficult to trade him.
Amid his public comments that he would intervene in the Whiteside/Erik Spoelstra disconnect, Riley is now mulling what to do with Whiteside, according to someone close to the situation.
If the Heat can snag a high-quality rotation piece for Whiteside, it’s a no-brainer, because his dissatisfaction with his role and playing time, and the unevenness of his play, have exasperated numerous Heat people.
The more difficult question that Riley must decide is whether to deal Whiteside if he gets back clearly less value in return — but less value with shorter contracts.
In order to have the cap space to offer max contracts in 2019 for potential free agents Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving or Klay Thompson, Miami must purge the contracts of Whiteside and Goran Dragic, or Whiteside and at least one other player earning significant money. Whiteside has a $27.1 million player option for 2019-20, which he seems likely to exercise.
So the first step toward clearing space is dealing Whiteside for a contract with one season left.
But here’s the problem: Only a few teams would be realistic potential suitors for Whiteside, who’s due $24.4 million next season before the bump to $27.1 million in 2019-20, and his late March rant and poor playoff series (albeit in limited playing time against Philadelphia) will make it even more difficult to trade him.
