Perhaps Hassan Whiteside isn't so unique, after all. Perhaps Tyler Johnson isn't quite the outlier as initially perceived.
In the vacuum of the offseason inspection of their quantum-leap contracts, both Whiteside and Johnson had more than a few questioning the Heat's spending spree in July.
But only now can we have context, with the NBA this past week getting a jump start on next summer's machinations.
With the Oct. 31 deadline on extensions for the 2013 NBA draft class, perspective was added when it came to the four-year, $98 million contract extended the first day of free agency to Whiteside, and the four-year, $50 million offer sheet the Heat matched from the Brooklyn Nets for Johnson.
An outlandish figure for Whiteside in light of his limited playing-time sample size?
Consider that Rudy Gobert, a similar shot-blocking type, was rewarded with a four-year, $102 million contract that includes $90 million in guaranteed money.
Or that erstwhile Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams received a four-year, $100 million extension, with his deal, like Gobert's, to kick in starting in the 2017-18 season.
"Yeah, I mean that's what it is for the big men out here," Whiteside said when apprised of those extension figures. "Big men are making a lot of money. So it's really a big part of the deal."
For the Heat, who lacked both draft rights and Bird Rights with Whiteside, there was no choice but to deal with Whiteside on the open market, with the Dallas Mavericks literally on Whiteside's doorstep as the Heat closed what proved to be a successful July 1 pitch.
Had Gobert or Adams, who will face Whiteside on Monday night, waited to become free agents in July, it is possible they could have eclipsed even the riches they received this past week.
It is another reason, Whiteside believes, that he will be able to move beyond justifying his new money.
"It's the market," he said. "That's pretty much all it takes."
Then there is the math with Johnson, who, like Whiteside, was in a somewhat unique situation with his own breakthrough as a non-drafted player, lacking both draft rights and Bird Rights.
While the structure of Johnson's package includes back-end salaries of $19 million over the final two years of the four-year package, the NBA's spending spree at Monday's extension deadline added its own element of perspective.
For Oklahoma City guard Victor Oladipo there was a four-year, $84 million extension, and for Minnesota Timberwolves power forward Gorgui Dieng a four-year, $64 million extension. Granted, both are starters, but their roles, much like Johnson's as a reserve, arguably are as much about roster composition as overall ability to contribute.
And even beyond those deals, at the deadline there was a four-year, $56 million extension for Charlotte Hornets center Cody Zeller, and a four-year, $70 million extension for Atlanta Hawks guard Dennis Schroder.
The common bond from Gobert to Adams to Oladipo to Dieng, and even Zeller and Schroder, is that none have been All-Stars and none may ever be amid the league's top-heavy talent pool.
In the end, as with Whiteside and Johnson, market economics set the scale, with the players merely cashing in, the Heat's spending in July coming into more reasonable focus in November.
"You're going to look back at deals like this right now later on down the line and they aren't going to look like a whole lot," Johnson said. "Some of these superstars are going to be up there ... and it's going to be crazy."
Indeed, earlier on the extension market there was a four-year, $107 million package for Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum and four years, $100 million for Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.
"Some of the numbers certainly are eye-popping," Johnson said. "The difference is I went through it alone. Now all these deals are coming in together."
