This may come as a shock to most of you since it’s literally never been talked about, but Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside is on an insanely cheap contract this year and is set to hit free agency this summer.
No? It HAS been talked about ad nauseum for the last few months? Really? Interesting.
Anyway, without the Heat having Whiteside’s full Bird rights, they’d have to use actual cap space to re-sign him to a deal that’ll likely be close to a max, or perhaps even a max. That reality, combined with the questions about just how impactful Whiteside is despite his gaudy numbers, make his situation a complicated one.
Enter in the Los Angeles Lakers, kind of.
Among the 3,764 teams that’ll have at least one max slot open this summer, the Lakers seem like the biggest non-Heat candidate to throw money at Whiteside. Just the other day, ESPN Insider Kevin Pelton mentioned Whiteside as a potential target for the Lakers:
“The Lakers’ biggest long-term need is for a center who can protect the rim and function as a roll man with rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell. With DeMarcus Cousins assuredly out of the picture with the Sacramento Kings fighting for a playoff spot, just months after the Lakers reportedly pursued Cousins, that could make Whiteside an obvious target in free agency this summer.
Because the Lakers would have to use cap space to sign Whiteside to a max-type contract whether he is on their roster or not, trading players or picks for him would only make sense to prevent the Miami Heat from trading him elsewhere at the deadline.”
Whiteside rolling hard to the rim and catching dimes from D’Angelo Russell would be a good look, as would him controlling the glass and swatting shots in a way current Laker center Roy Hibbert (God bless him) just hasn’t been able to do.
Heck, Whiteside in Los Angeles would be great just from an entertainment standpoint. His personality vibes with a major market. And if the Lakers were to keep Byron Scott (for WHATEVER reason), just imagine those pregame and postgame quotes.
As for the second part of Pelton’s quote, the Lakers don’t have much reason to pull off a trade since they could just sign Whiteside in the offseason. With that said, they do have some players — Hibbert, Nick Young, Lou Williams and Brandon Bass — on the trading block. If you believe Brian Geltzeiler, Russell may quietly be available as well:
In taking to people around the league on who has been made available in trade talks a very surprising name has come up: DeAngelo Russell
— Brian Geltzeiler (@hoopscritic) January 28, 2016
Needless to say, I stand 100% behind my report of the Lakers making D'Angelo Russell available in trade talks. Price tag is high though
— Brian Geltzeiler (@hoopscritic) January 28, 2016
LA putting Russell's name in trade talks makes some sense IF they like Clarkson better (which they do)and are sure they can re-sign Clarkson
— Brian Geltzeiler (@hoopscritic) January 29, 2016
If Russell is available (which is dumb, but hey, #Lakers), the Heat could try to engage L.A in some sort of Whiteside-Russell swap, but not only would salary filler be needed, it’s hard to imagine Miami being able to add a pick or multiple picks as sweeteners.
Again, there are still questions about Whiteside. Despite his talent, his awareness on the basketball court is a bit sub-par.
As big of a P&R threat as he is offensively, he doesn’t guard it well defensively. He chases blocks at times and finds himself out of position when he doesn’t get them.
He also has a tendency to force up bad shots. But maybe in an offense with more spacing, Whiteside could get easier opportunities and wouldn’t feel the need to force the issue like he occasionally does in Miami. Those are the kind of things the Lakers have to consider before throwing max money at him.
Even with that said, Whiteside is very talented, has great size and length, and is theoretically entering his athletic prime at age 26. The Lakers should take a flier on him.
In the event it doesn’t work, I’d imagine it’ll be easier to trade Whiteside at a max or near-max with the cap boom coming than it is right now with him making less than $1M.
Go for it.
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Ross Jamal Pusey