Hassan Whiteside Focused On Coming Season, Not 2016 Free Agency

“I’m just excited I get to play with the Heat another year”.

Whiteside played off any talk of his long-term future, such as recent media speculation another good year would bring him an $18 million annual contract as a free agent following this coming season. Whiteside said he is not really thinking about the reported increase of his salary for the next season.

Whiteside emerged this past season and is in his first stable offseason after bouncing around the basketball world. The Heat struck gold when they signed Whiteside out of the D-League last season, and it was arguably one of the most exciting storylines of the 2014-15 season.

ESPN’s Amin Elhassan pegs Whiteside’s early suggested AAV (annual average value) at whopping $18.8 million.

“Based on the projected jump of the salary cap for 2016-17 and the Heat’s current contract situation, the Heat should have the requisite cap space, even at such a substantial valuation, to retain Whiteside, should he choose to return, next summer”. With the amount of cash teams will be swimming in as the cap surges to new heights, it wouldn’t be outlandish to expect Whiteside to command that max figure or close to it. That has had him in a relaxed mood according to Sun Sentinel. Who knew he would blow up and become such a force. “In the past, I never knew who I was going to be playing with”. I know I’m playing with [Chris] Bosh and those guys. Whiteside said he believes Miami has done plenty to improve itself.