ORLANDO, Fla. _ It turns out that Hassan Whiteside did not delineate where his potential giveback would go when it came to his offer to help the Miami Heat attempt to sign free-agent forward Kevin Durant.
A party involved in the process confirmed Thursday to the Sun Sentinel that Whiteside had been willing to forgo as much as $9 million for the Heat to both add Durant and re-sign Dwyane Wade, if such a package could be completed.
Instead, with Durant opting to sign with the Golden State Warriors and Wade moving on to the Chicago Bulls, Whiteside will wind up with the $98 million over four years he had agreed upon last Friday with the Heat during the opening hours of NBA free agency.
While Whiteside winds up with the maximum deal he could have received from the Heat for a player of his NBA tenure, there was a point where his Heat deal could have come in at $89 million had Heat President Pat Riley and owner Micky Arison been able to convince Durant to instead leave the Oklahoma City Thunder for South Florida.
Such a concession from Whiteside would have had him accepting less than he otherwise could have received from outside suitors such as the Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers, who were able to offer a four-year package up to a maximum of $94 million.
With Wade having taken a two-year, $47 million package from the Bulls, Whiteside will enter next season with the second-highest salary on the Heat roster, at $22 million, behind only the $23.7 million due to power forward Chris Bosh, who has yet to be cleared by the Heat to return after last season's recurrence of blood clots.
Before the Heat formally announced Whiteside's agreement Thursday, Whiteside confirmed to the Sun Sentinel that he had not wavered amid Wade's defection.
"No way," Whiteside responded when asked if he had reconsidered the commitment. "Four more years."
Whiteside was the first player contacted by the Heat at last Friday's start of free agency, agreeing to terms within eight hours after a particularly aggressive courtship by the Mavericks. He had thrived on alley-oop dunks off of feeds from Wade, but also at times was the subject of Wade frustration with his play.
Thursday was the first day teams could formalize contracts, with the Heat announcing the signing through a news release that read, "The Miami Heat announced today that they have re-signed center Hassan Whiteside. As per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed." The statement did not include comment Riley or and member of the Heat front office.
Whiteside led the NBA with 269 blocked shots this past season and became the second player in NBA history to block at least 250 shots and shoot over 60 percent (.606) from the field, joining only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who accomplished the feat in 1979-80 when he recorded 280 blocks and shot .604 from the field. In addition, Whiteside's 11.84 rebound average was the highest for a single-season in team history, surpassing Rony Seikaly's 11.82 in 1991-92.
