Hassan Whiteside Calls Limited Minutes 'Bulls--t,' Questions Future with Heat

Less than two years into a massive contract with the Miami Heat, it appears Hassan Whiteside wants out of South Beach.

A fed-up Whiteside vented to the media after playing just 20 minutes in a 110-109 overtime loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday, per the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Ira Winderman (warning: NSFW language):

Winderman later provided the full quote: "Man, it's annoying. Why we matching up? We got one of the best centers in the league. Why we matching up? A lot of teams don't have a good center. They're going to use their strength. It's bulls--t. It's really bulls--t, man. There's a lot of teams that could use a center. S--t. That's bulls--t."

The Miami center had 14 points, six rebounds and two blocks in Saturday's loss.

Whiteside signed a four-year, $98 million contract, per Spotrac, during the 2016 offseason. Now, not even 21 months later, his future with the team is in question.

Entering this season, the former second-round pick had seen his minutes increase in three consecutive years after he found a home in Miami. He played a career-high 32.6 minutes per game a season ago only to see his time on the court drop to 25.7 minutes per game in 2017-18.

Of course, with a drop in playing time comes a decline in numbers. The 7'0", 265-pound big man is averaging 14.1 points, 11.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks, all his lowest since the 2014-15 season, which was when he first burst on the scene.

Whiteside is coming off a hip injury that sidelined him for nine games, and he also missed 11 games earlier this season due to a bone bruise in his left knee. Even with those injuries, though, he apparently thinks he has been underused.

"The minutes have been like that all year," Whiteside said, per Winderman. "It's just really frustrating, and it's been frustrating. It's tough. I don't know, man; it's crazy. I don't understand it."

Perhaps adding to his frustration was the fact that Miami was denied a chance to clinch a playoff spot against the Nets. He probably feels that if he had played more Saturday night—as well as more throughout the season—that order of business would already be taken care of.

There's not much that can happen in terms of moving Whiteside at this point in the season. It will, however, be interesting to see what happens with his minutes following these comments.