Hassan Whiteside to Re-Sign With the Miami Heat

Hassan Whiteside is staying with the Miami Heat on a four-year, $98 million deal according to the Associated Press.

The contract will become official on July 7th when the NBA’s moratorium period of free agency concludes. Whiteside is set to match his previous career earnings 12 games into the 2016-2017, as he will rack up a total of $3.2 million in Miami’s first 12 games.

Whiteside made his announcement official early Friday morning by writing a statement on The Players’ Tribune and a post on his official Snapchat account after meeting with the Heat and the Dallas Mavericks.

I’ve played on eight teams since college — from Reno to Sioux Falls to Sichuan, China.

I am not ready for there to be a ninth.

I have decided to re-sign with Miami. I just wanted to take this time to tell all the fans how much you mean to this team, and to me.

Can’t wait to get back to work and try to bring another championship to Miami. #HeatNation

$98 million is roughly 100 times greater than the $981,348 Whiteside made in 2015-2016 for Miami that was originally scheduled to be non-guaranteed money until the Heat fully guaranteed Whiteside’s contract in September 2015.

Miami signed Whiteside back in November 2014 after waving Shannon Brown due to the growing need for a big man alongside Chris Bosh. Since that day, Whiteside has grown into one of the NBA’s best centers. He averaged 14.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks per game in 2015-2016.

The Heat now have seven players under contract for the 2016-2017 season in Chris Bosh, Goran Dragic, Josh McRoberts, Josh Richardson, Justise Winslow, and Briante Weber as a result of today’s news. Miami has a meeting with Kevin Durant set for Sunday, and Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng, and Joe Johnson in free agency.

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