Hassan Whiteside = max player.
That is reality. Go ahead and say he’s not “worth” it if you wish, but a player’s worth can be different than his value. Whiteside’s athleticism and rim protection are rare and valuable skills — it’s basic supply and demand, there are not other guys like Whiteside. Add to that an NBA free agent market flooded with cash and you get a guy valued by teams as a max player. Whether he is “worth” it or not.
Whiteside is also a max player because the Mavericks got the first meeting with him and will offer him that, Tim MacMahon of ESPN said on the radio in Miami, as transcribed by HeatNation.com (hat tip Eye on Basketball).In a radio interview yesterday, Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com said that the Dallas Mavericks will be getting the first meeting with Whiteside when the clock hits 12:01 a.m on July 1st....
“Absolutely, no questions asked. The financial negotiations with the Mavericks will take all of one second. Max. One second max for the max,” MacMahon stated emphatically. “If you’re going to try and recruit Hassan Whiteside you can haggle about money, but he’s gonna cross you off his list and move on,” said MacMahon.
After the DeAndre Jordan situation last summer, Mark Cuban isn’t going to mess around with his top target (he didn’t mess around with Jordan either, but he is still stung by how that went down).
Also looming out there are the Lakers, Knicks, Trail Blazers, and Rockets, among others, all of whom would offer a max salary to Whiteside.
The question becomes, will Pat Riley and the Heat offer that much? They had hoped to get a little hometown discount with him (because the Heat need to resign him and Dwyane Wade, plus have a Kevin Durant meeting). That’s not happening. If the Heat offer Whiteside a max he likely stays — he’s comfortable with the franchise that took a chance on him and his return to the NBA, and he likes living there (plus no state taxes). But there will be no hometown discount. The Mavericks are setting the bar.