Hassan Whiteside and the Heat had a frustrating end to the season. They made the playoffs, but were eliminated in five games and looked thoroughly outmatched most of the series. Whiteside was forced to watch a lot of that series from the bench due to matchup issues and a disagreement on what his role should be with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
Whiteside finished the season asking why he wasn't playing more and if there was still a place for him in Miami. The Heat are asking themselves the same thing, apparently. According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, there is strong support inside the Heat front office to trade Whiteside over the summer.
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.
During a press conference last week, Pat Riley mentioned that he would organize a Whiteside intervention with Spoelstra to potentially work out their differences. Most of those differences come from Whiteside being a traditional big man in a league that is moving away from his style of play. The Heat want to be a modern team, but Whiteside's $52 million contract makes that difficult.
If the Heat choose to move Whiteside, they might have to just bite the bullet and give him up for minimal return. His contract isn't very movable and his style doesn't fit many rosters across the league. However, a lot of this can be avoided if Whiteside is willing to work on becoming a more modern NBA center. That's easier said than done, though.
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