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Trail Blazers: What does Jusuf Nurkic’s return mean for Hassan Whiteside

By Stevie Cozens

SACRAMENTO, CA - OCTOBER 25: Jusuf Nurkic #27 and Hassan Whiteside #21 of the Portland Trail Blazers talk during a game against the Sacramento Kings on October 25, 2019 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)
SACRAMENTO, CA - OCTOBER 25: Jusuf Nurkic #27 and Hassan Whiteside #21 of the Portland Trail Blazers talk during a game against the Sacramento Kings on October 25, 2019 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The return of Jusuf Nurkic to the Trail Blazers around the all-star break is huge for this team. How will it impact starting center Hassan Whiteside though?

Jusuf Nurkic has declared he will return for the Trail Blazers around the all-star break in February. This is a boon for a team that is depleted because of injuries and are in desperate need of reinforcements in the front court.

Though Nurkic will start slow and likely be on a minutes restriction when he returns, within a month or so he will be up to capacity and playing full minutes. Can both him and Hassan Whiteside co-exist in this rotation?

Neither player has played the four in their careers to date, and even if they wanted to they would be too slow to guard the four and are unable to score enough to play there in the modern NBA. Lets move away from the idea of either of them playing at the four, it’s not going to happen.

The center minutes are allocated nicely at the moment with Skal Labissiere chiming in with some nice games. But when Nurkic returns, Skal would disappear from the rotation, leaving Whiteside and Nurkic to battle it out for the 48 center minutes.

Now if there was a blowout win or loss, then there would be a chance one player would only get 12 minutes. This would be a problem.

Both players are strong personalities and would have problems accepting lesser minutes. This doesn’t mean they are bad teammates, but they are competitive guys who want to play a big role.

Nurkic has said he has lost weight, he feels like he is in great condition and wants to play a major role in his return.

How does this fit into Whiteside’s acceptance of a lesser role?

The trade deadline is a week before the all-star break so trading Whiteside would be a problem, unless they were able to return a starting center. The timing of Nurkic’s return is great for the team but it will mean these two players will need to accept a lesser role at some point.

Whiteside will likely stay the starting center and the coaching staff will hope that the competition for minutes will push both of these players to play at higher levels. With Whiteside a free agent next summer, it’s on him to keep his energy up while being a positive presence in the locker room.

It is disappointing for Skal as he will likely lose most of his minutes, but this is the business of the NBA. Its looking like Skal has shown enough to get paid next year even if it’s not by this team.

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Considering all the above, it’s unlikely that they trade Whiteside prior to the deadline unless they could find another starting center while using Whiteside’s salary to get forward help.

Whiteside and Nurkic will need to accept the role that is best for this team so they can get their record back on track while also putting their personal games in the best position for next year. If they can do that, then they can co-exist nicely in Rip City. Fingers crossed that this will be the case.