It is a cold world bundle up.
Hassan Whiteside will be bundling up when he takes his talents to Portland.
The Portland Trail Blazers will acquire Hassan Whiteside in a four-team trade with the Miami Heat, according to multiple reports.
Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald reports the Heat are trading Whiteside to the Blazers for big men Meyers Leonard and Maurice Harkless. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported news of the deal. The trade was also reported by Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel.
The deal reportedly is tied to a four-team trade that will send All-Star Jimmy Butler to the Heat, who needed to clear cap space in order to acquire Butler in a sign-and-trade.
The honeymoon was hot; the marriage, on the other hand, was cold.
After joining the Miami Heat in 2014, Whiteside was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 2016, when he also led the NBA in blocks. He led the league in rebounding in 2017.
In 2017-18, he averaged 14 ppg, 11.7 rpg, and 1.7 bpg, but was limited to 54 games because of a myriad of various injuries. That season was trying for Whiteside and the Heat as he was a nonfactor for Miami in its first-round series loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. He complained at the time about how he was being utilized by coach Erik Spoelstra, something team president Pat Riley made clear he wasn’t happy with.
Whiteside dealt with injuries during the season and didn’t want to wear a knee brace that the Heat insisted upon, and Riley said that if Whiteside and Spoelstra need an intervention to solve their relationship issues – if any – he’ll handle it. Last season, he averaged 12.3 ppg, 11.3 rpg and 1.9 bpg.
Whiteside was a marquee free agent in the summer of 2016 when he signed a four-year, $98 million deal with the Heat. He responded with a career season in 2016-17, averaging 17 points, 14.1 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game for Miami. However, his game and role with Miami have been on the decline since then.
He is entering the final season of a four-year, $98 million contract. He lost his starting spot to Bam Adebayo in the second half of last season but figures to offer frontline depth to a Trail Blazers team that lost center Jusuf Nurkic to a broken leg late last season.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report
