One of the biggest dilemmas for the Miami Heat is how to keep Hassan Whiteside.
As illustrated by Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel, the Heat will not have the Bird rights to Whiteside because they only signed him to two years instead of three. Thus, if they want to keep Whiteside, they need to pay him off their salary cap.
The dilemma for the Heat is that Dwyane Wade is also an expiring contract and Miami fans will riot if ever their loyal superstar who is a Heat "lifer" will not be signed. Think Kobe Bryant for Los Angeles-they have to sign him no matter what.
Now that the Heat are capped out and the only way they can clear enough space is to trade one of their max salary players, Goran Dragic or Chris Bosh. If this is the case, Sports Illustrated believes Bosh would be the odd man out.
The article stated that the Georgia Tech product "has a lot of value around the league" and there are teams that would be willing to trade for him. The Heat would rather acquire expiring contracts that could allow them the flexibility to lock Whiteside first, and then build the team later on.
One candidate that the Heat could explore is Al Horford. Horford is an expiring contract and possibly one of the most coveted free agents around. His status as a free agent allows possibilities for the Heat to retain him on a one-year contract and then re-sign him for more money later on-something they could not do with Bosh.
For the Atlanta Hawks, their current team has critics saying that they're only good for a regular season run. Upgrading Horford to Bosh who is taller, quicker and has a longer range than Horford may improve their playoff chances.
This is a scenario that may play out but there is no assurance that this will happen. The scenario may need other players and draft picks for salaries to match, like this one on the ESPN trade machine.