The Miami Heat found them a needle in a haystack last season in Hassan Whiteside. Whiteside was a second round pick in 2010 and hadn't gotten a real shot in the NBA until last season with the Heat, and he took full advantage. Despite Whiteside's breakout season, his salary is still extremely modest for the 2015-16 season and wasn't even fully guaranteed until the Heat reportedly decided to guarantee it fully earlier this week, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Whiteside is expected to be the starting center on a team that should boast one of the best starting lineups in the NBA. The 26-year-old seven footer is scheduled to make less than $1 million this season in the final year of the two year contract he signed last offseason.
Whiteside's contract was always going to become fully guaranteed, but the Heat decided to not make him wait around for that to become official. His contract had him receiving more guaranteed money at different dates if he was still on the roster. NBA rules allowed the Heat to modify Whiteside's contract to make it fully guaranteed but they weren't allowed to change his cap number.
Whiteside will become a free agent after this season and the Heat might have trouble retaining him. Miami will have to pay Dwyane Wade next summer and Whiteside is due a huge raise from his 2015-16 salary. The Heat do not have Whiteside's bird rights as he will only have a two-year tenure with the Heat when he becomes a free agent, so they will not be able to go over the cap to sign him. If Miami wants to retain their center, they are going to have to somehow find cap space and that won't be easy as Goran Dragic, Chris Bosh and presumably Wade will be eating up a lot of the cap.
In 43 games with the Heat last season, Whiteside averaged 11.8 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in just 23.8 minutes per game and he showed himself to be a major force. The Heat will be able to fit him into their plans if he wants to sign for $10 million or less, but odds are that he will be able to get much more than that on the free agent market. Pat Riley is very good at figuring this stuff out, but in this case, it is hard to think of a way in which the Heat can keep Whiteside after this season.
