The Portland Trail Blazers will have Jusuf Nurkic back on court for 2021. This means that Hassan Whiteside needs to take a pay cut that reflects his role.
Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic is now back from injury after a near 18-month layoff. This means that in the 2021 season, he will be the starting center, with Hassan Whiteside consigned to a backup role if he stays. Nurkic is one of the best centers in the league, and he will be a massive part of the Blazers push for hopeful home-court advantage in the 2021 playoffs.
Unfortunately, for Hassan Whiteside, this means that he would have to ride the bench. Whiteside was a key contributor on the 2020 team when Nurkic was injured, leading the NBA in blocks while putting up some great rebounding numbers.
But, now Nurkic is back – Whiteside is definitely the backup. Whiteside spent just one year in Portland after being traded there by the Miami Heat. He had signed a near-maximum four-year $98 million deal in Miami in 2016, meaning the final year of this deal was worth around $27 million. Whiteside never fully lived up to the max deal, making just the one All-Defensive team.
Now that he will be a free agent in 2020, he has some big decisions to make about his future.
Whiteside is a starting-caliber center on many teams in the NBA, but his inconsistency on defense means that he probably isn’t a starter on a playoff team. The limitations in his game, like his lack of passing vision and inability to stretch the floor, mean that only a specific type of NBA team can offer him significant money.
This will be nowhere near the $27 million that he received in the 2019/20 season. The lack of cap space around the league, combined with how few teams need big men, means that Whiteside’s market is small.
A team like the Charlotte Hornets or the Detroit Pistons could use him, but I think that a deal with the Pistons would be around $9 – $12 million a year. For Whiteside to get maximum value for his services, he needs to go to a team that is rebuilding and who need shot-blocking and size. The Hornets or Pistons would fit that.
Now, if he wanted to stay with the Blazers, he would probably need to take even less.
Backup centers in the NBA are paid anywhere between the minimum and $10 million a year dependent on their skills, versatility, and upside.
Whiteside can play just the one position and is over 30-years-old, so his value to the Blazers isn’t huge. He will only average around 20 minutes a night, so paying him over $8 million makes no sense. And if the Blazers decide that a backup like John Henson is a better fit at around $4 million, then Whiteside would need to find a new home.
Whiteside can still add value to an NBA team, but no one will offer any more than $15 million in free agency. If Whiteside wants to return to the Blazers, so he can be part of a playoff team, he may need to take $20 million less than he did on his last deal. This may mean he can get some longterm security with a multi-year deal, though.