Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside is paying the price for his rant following the Heat's loss to the Brooklyn Nets over the weekend.
It was not the NBA handing out the punishment to Whiteside but rather the Heat themselves who decided to fine him an undisclosed amount for his comments after the game.
The Miami Heat fined center Hassan Whiteside an undisclosed amount Sunday for “comments detrimental to the team” in response to his remarks Saturday night expressing frustration with his role.
Whiteside dropped some NSFW remarks after being benched during important minutes of the team's overtime loss to the Nets, saying:
“A lot of teams don’t have a good center. They are going to use their strengths. It’s bulls—. It’s really bulls—, man. There are a lot of teams that can use a center.”
“The minutes have been like that all year. It’s really frustrating. … It’s tough. I don’t know, man. It’s crazy. I don’t understand it.”
The Heat were obviously not happy about this and decided to let Whiteside know that this kind of public criticism of the team will not be tolerated.
This is not a good look for Whiteside or his status with the team, whether or not he has a legit case to be made. These types of matters should be handled in house and Whiteside voicing his displeasure to the media may shed some light on what his relationship with the franchise is actually like.