Former NBA rebounding leader reportedly retiring from basketball

A former NBA standout center is subbing out of the game for good.

Puerto Rican outlet El Nuevo Dia reported Tuesday that ex-Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside is retiring from basketball. Whiteside reportedly informed the Piratas de Quebradillas, the pro team in Puerto Rico that he had spent the last season with, of his plans to retire.

The news puts a bow on a turbulent but long-lasting basketball career for the 34-year-old. He was a second-round NBA draft pick by the Sacramento Kings in 2010 but was out of the league by 2012. Whiteside then honed his skills playing in the then NBA D-League as well as overseas in both China and Lebanon before latching with the Heat in 2014.

The seven-footer made the most of his opportunity with Miami, becoming an overnight sensation as a nightly double-double threat and feared rim protector. Whiteside would eventually earn an All-Defensive Team nod in 2016 before leading the NBA in rebounding in 2017. He also led the league in blocks twice (in 2016 and 2020).

But Whiteside once again fell out of favor in the NBA as teams began to adjust to his inconsistent effort and tendency to pad his statistics at the cost of winning basketball. He landed on the Portland Trail Blazers, briefly went back to the Kings, and played for the Utah Jazz before making the move to Puerto Rico in 2023. While he was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year, rebounding leader, and blocks leader during his one season there, Whiteside is now calling it quits after a roughly decade-and-a-half-long pro career.

It remains to be seen how Whiteside’s volatile career will be remembered by the annals of basketball history. But he earned himself over $100 million in the NBA.