Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside missed five games early this season due to a knee injury that’s supposed to be completely healed by now. That doesn't seem to be the case for the big man, however, as Whiteside confided to reporters just before the Heat took on the New York Knicks Wednesday, per Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel.

“It's really bothering me, man,” Whiteside said at his locker at Madison Square Garden. “We're going to figure it out. We're going to figure it out when we get back to Miami and figure out what's wrong.”

Interestingly, Whiteside’s comment wasn’t in line with what Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said earlier. Spoelstra had a more optimistic tone when discussing Whiteside’s injury, saying that he doesn’t even think that the center needs to undergo an MRI.

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“We don't think necessarily right now he’ll have an MRI. He's already gotten one of those.”

“This is part of the process. We anticipated this. It hasn't gotten any worse, necessarily, just the schedule hasn't let up and he really hasn't been able to do two days of work in a row for a while.”

Whiteside played in just 19 minutes and scored 11 point to go with 14 rebounds during a 108-97 road loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday, but was ruled out for Wednesday’s game against the Knicks, who beat Miami 115-86.

It’s uncertain whether he’ll be available for Friday’s game at home against the Charlotte Hornets, and if Whiteside needs to miss another game, rookie center Bam Adebayo could expect to start again. Adebayo drew a start in the Knicks game and scored nine points and five rebounds in 31 minutes of action.