The Portland Trail Blazers acquired big man Hassan Whiteside in a trade with the Miami Heat earlier this month, a move that left some scratching their heads at what exactly the Blazers were doing.

But don't count Portland star Damian Lillard among those people.

Lillard was thrilled to have Whiteside aboard, and Whiteside says that the point guard inundated him with text messages following the trade announcement:

“I’m talking about … like, Dame wrote books,” Whiteside said, according to Jason Quick of The Athletic. “And I was like, man, I’m here. This is all right. This is what I’ve been waiting for.”

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Whiteside added that he and Lillard also had some conversations over the phone, and during those talks, Lillard made sure to let Whiteside know how important it is to respect Blazers head coach Terry Stotts:

“I think the things that stuck out the most was he was just communicating and stressing that it had to happen on both ends,” Whiteside said. “Regardless of what we are feeling at the time, we all have the same goal. And he said he would never try to stand me up or show out on me, or another person, and he expects the same. And he was like, ‘If Coach talks, just respect it.’”

Whiteside is coming off of a 2018-19 campaign in which he played 72 games and averaged 12.3 points, 11.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks over 23.3 minutes per game while shooting 57.1 percent from the floor and 44.9 percent from the free-throw line.

The 30-year-old spent the last five years with the Heat.