Hassan Whiteside Trade Rumors: Strong Support from Heat Personnel to Move Center

Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside may find himself on the trade block this offseason.

According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, "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?"

Whiteside, 28, averaged 14.0 points, 11.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game in 2017-18, though he fell out of favor late in the season, averaging just 22.5 minutes per game in March and 21.9 in April.

Head coach Erik Spoelstra seemed to prefer giving rookie center Bam Adebayo minutes off the bench or running out small-ball lineups, and things came to a head in late March after Whiteside didn't play in the fourth quarter or overtime in a loss against the Brooklyn Nets.

"Why we matching up? We got one of the best centers in the league. Why we matching up?" he told reporters after that game, per Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. "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."

Whiteside probably didn't help his case with Heat coaches in the postseason when he was a non-factor in the team's first-round exit against the Philadelphia 76ers. He averaged just 5.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in only 15.4 minutes per contest.

By comparison, Joel Embiid averaged 18.7 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in 30.4 minutes per game.

Jackson posited that, "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."

Moving his contract will be no small feat, however. Whiteside is due $25.4 million next season and $27.1 million in 2019-20, a major chunk of change for a player who can't stretch the floor offensively and isn't enough of an impact or effort player defensively to entice teams to absorb that contract.

As Jackson wrote, "Whiteside ranked 52nd of 63 centers defensively when matched up against a guard on defense. By comparison, Bam Adebayo was 11th and Kelly Olynyk 29th."

When opponents utilize small-ball lineups or pull Whiteside away from the basket, he becomes vulnerable, and the Miami defense suffers.

Moving Whiteside could mean taking back less value or players on one-year deals. The Heat also may have to give up a cheaper but valuable young piece, with Justise Winslow (due to make $3.4 million next year) as the most realistic option.

In other words, Miami is going to have to get creative if it wants to move Whiteside, and it'll have to find a team in need of an upgrade at center. Otherwise, it won't be able to trade him without taking pennies on the dollar.

If he sticks around, Whiteside and the Heat will need to iron out their differences and figure out his best role for the 2018-19 season.