JUNE 21, 11:49am: Whiteside has officially exercised his 2019/20 player option, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
JUNE 21, 12:04am: Heat president Pat Riley confirms that Whiteside will opt in, adding that the center hasn’t requested a trade and he expects Whiteside to be on the team, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.
JUNE 18, 4:21pm: There’s a growing belief that if and when Whiteside opts in, he may do so while asking for a trade, tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Given his $27MM+ salary, it won’t be easy for the Heat to make a deal.
JUNE 18, 11:24am: Barring an unforeseen development in the coming days, Heat center Hassan Whiteside intends to opt into the final season of his contract, exercising his 2019/20 player option, a league source tells Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.
Picking up that option will make Whiteside the Heat’s highest-paid player for next season, locking in a salary of $27,093,018, per Basketball Insiders. The veteran big man will subsequently be on track to reach unrestricted free agency during the summer of 2020.
Whiteside, who turned 30 years old last Thursday, averaged 12.3 PPG and 11.3 RPG with 1.9 BPG in 72 games (53 starts) for the Heat last season. While his numbers were solid, Whiteside’s 23.3 minutes per game represented his lowest mark since he arrived in Miami in 2014.
Whiteside hasn’t been thrilled about his reduced role and inconsistent minutes over the last two seasons. Still, despite expressing a little dissatisfaction with his playing time, he was always considered a virtual lock to exercise his player option to stick with the Heat — he’d have no chance of matching his $27MM salary for ’19/20 on the open market.
With option salaries for both Whiteside and Goran Dragic on their books for next season, the Heat’s guaranteed salary commitments will increase to nearly $130MM for just eight players, plus a $3.64MM cap hold for their first-round pick. The team figures to thoroughly explore ways to cut costs during the offseason to avoid ending up in tax territory with a roster that missed the playoffs this past season.
As our player option decision tracker shows, 10 players have already opted in for the 2019/20 season, with Whiteside and Dwight Powell (Mavericks) both planning to do so as well.
Here are a few more brief Heat notes:
- According to Jackson, the Heat and Grizzlies discussed a possible Mike Conley trade, but didn’t see eye to eye on compensation and those talks went nowhere.
- Jimmy Butler has told confidants that he’d be happy to meet with the Heat in free agency if the team wants to make a pitch, tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Miami doesn’t project to have any cap room available this offseason though, so the idea of Butler joining the team is an extreme long shot.
- University of Miami prospect Dewan Hernandez cancelled a workout with the Heat due to scheduling issues and an overcrowded workout calendar, writes Jackson.
I mean, that’s what happens when you don’t give the guy playing time. He loses whatever value he would’ve had on the open market and opts in to the deal that you overpaid him on in the first place. He was never going to get $27mm per year again, but if he had a chance to show he still has value it was a possibility that he would opt out and look for a multiyear deal at a lower AAV. And it’s not like they even made the playoffs. It’s gonna be near impossible for the Heat to improve their roster with all their bad contracts.
Wait a second, I thought Pat Riley was a genius?
When you get LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh to all take paycuts, you’re a genius forever and nothing you do wrong in the future matters lol
He’s too young to opt out and seek a longer term commitment. He was probably looking at MLE type contract. He essentially would need to sign for 3+ years to make the same in one season. He will be 31 next offseason and can still sign that type of deal. He was never an opt out candidate.
I wonder what his value is on the open market (if he was a UFA). Can’t be high, but his interior defense and rebounding is still valuable
Trade Alert !!
Whiteside and #13 for Wiggins !!!
Holy Balls lets do it!!! Anything to get Wiggens out of MN
very strange most off seasons big men with his numbers got maxxed out… I would trade CP3 chins for him .. and then trade capela for a top #8 pick and hope you can get culver or garland.
doesn’t make the Rockets better and I’d rather have an aging Paul vs Whiteside because he has little upside considering what he DOES do vs what Paul does.
It’s not about the skill level of Paul vs Whiteside. It’s all about the contract. Houston would get a complete cap reset next season vs. having a disgruntled player making 40% of their cap.
Paul might be overpaid but he can still be worth keeping if they can work together. No guarantee they can find another star to play with James.
i think harden with whiteside would be very tough for teams to defend and I think a change would be just what whiteside needs to get back to his 20pts and 15 rebs a game type stats he had before and also I think dragic fits better with harden and then you get them both off your books and free up cap space.
There may be no WHITESIDE in Miami !!
Wasnt possible to get rid of him, even in my dreams. Cant wait until this guy is off my team. He is the embodiment of a child with bad habits that doesnt understand why he is in timeout. I’ve said for at least 3 years he should have been coming off the bench, and as expected, he was a lot better in that role
Come oncourt with edge instead of entitlement
His contract is terrible, but I feel like a lot of teams could benefit someone of his abilities.
Unfortunately not for that price. $27 million for a bench player is way to much.
Good one for agent block!!!
I would have prefer the Heat traded away Whiteside for a vending machine, and Dragic for another vending machine and just get Bol Bol in the draft and Tacko Fall. They’ll give you more than what Whiteside gives every game, dude seems like he doesn’t even want to play anymore at times.