Portland Trail Blazers: Grading every free agency move so far
Trading Harkless, Leonard for Hassan Whiteside
This move has to come with an asterisk attached, simply because it will be impossible to tell which version of Hassan Whiteside the Portland Trail Blazers will be receiving. That being said, this move was still absolutely worth making given the circumstances and the minimal assets required to get him.
For years Whiteside was viewed as immovable due to his enormously bloated contract; However, as he enters the final year of his four-year, $98 million extension, Whiteside suddenly holds much value for a team like Portland itching to ditch their expiring contracts.
While Meyers Leonard and Moe Harkless are beloved Rip City products, neither hold much true trade value; an expiring Hassan Whiteside on the other hand, is a different story.
As a reminder, the last time Whiteside was in a contract year, he averaged 14.2 points and 11.8 rebounds per game while leading the league with 3.7 blocks per contest.
This trade ended up getting folded into the Jimmy Butler trade in order to make salaries work on Miami’s end. Considering Whiteside has been vocal about his desires to be traded coupled with Butler’s past history working next to lackadaisical centers, this was probably a smart preemptive move.
Luckily for Portland, this also means they get the talented yet disgruntled center at a bargain of a price tag.
With Jusuf Nurkic projected to miss the majority of the year recuperating from his devastating leg injury, Whiteside will perfectly fill the void as a rim protector capable of crashing the boards. After grabbing 5.5 offensive rebounds per 36 minutes last year, Whiteside is virtually guaranteed to give more looks to the explosive duo of Lillard and McCollum.
By all accounts, this trade immediately makes the Blazers better. Even at his worst, Whiteside is still capable of being a game changer on any given night. Ideally, a change of scenario and a contract year will motivate Whiteside to return to form.
Even if it doesn’t, there’s no harm in it. Whiteside can just be cut loose at the end of the year at little to no cost. This is exactly the kind of calculated gamble that Neil Olshey needed to make to help the Portland Trail Blazers get back to their first NBA Finals since 1992.