Veteran center Hassan Whiteside has informed Piratas de Quebradillas – his team last season in Puerto Rico – that he intends to retire from basketball, according to a report from the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Dia.
Although Whiteside hasn’t made an official, public announcement himself, he did re-post several social media stories about his reported retirement on his Instagram account.
Whiteside, 34, was the 33rd overall pick out of Marshall in the 2010 draft and spent his first two professional seasons playing in Sacramento. However, he saw limited minutes in just total 19 appearances for the Kings and subsequently played in the G League, China and Lebanon from 2012-14 before catching on with the Heat.
The best stretch of Whiteside’s NBA career came in Miami from 2014-19, as he averaged 14.1 points, 11.9 rebounds and 2.4 blocks across 324 appearances (259 starts) in 27.2 minutes per night. He made the All-Defensive Second Team and led the NBA in blocked shots in 2015-16, then was the league’s top rebounder in ’16-17.
Whiteside was traded from the Heat to the Trail Blazers entering the final season of a four-year, $98M+ contract in 2019 and once again led the NBA in blocked shots in his first and only season in Portland. He was a backup center with the Kings in 2020-21 and the Jazz in ’21-22 before playing in Puerto Rico in 2023.
For his career, Whiteside averaged 12.6 PPG, 10.8 RPG and 2.2 BPG in 511 NBA regular season games (24.7 MPG). Despite his gaudy stats, the big man sometimes faced criticism due to the perception that he pursued individual numbers over team success and that his effort fluctuated on the defensive end of the court.
According to El Nuevo Dia, Whiteside will be replaced on Piratas de Quebradillas’ roster this season by another former NBA player: 7’6″ center Tacko Fall.
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