Former Miami Heat center, Hassan Whiteside, is in the Orlando bubble. He last reported live and on-site from his 20th coronavirus test.
The Miami Heat are the home of reclamation projects, hidden gems, and journeymen that suddenly find their niche to make a huge impact on the game. They are practically known for those types of situations with guys that they find on what seems like a year to year basis.
One of those guys in the last few seasons was Hassan Whiteside. Drafted out of Marshall at the top of the second round by the Sacramento Kings, Whiteside played a little bit of two seasons with the Kings before being out of the NBA for two seasons.
As famously stated, he was just shooting basketball daily at a local YMCA in his hometown Charlotte, North Carolina area before the Miami Heat plucked him back from obscurity during the 2014-15 season.
He went on to put up 11.8 points, 10 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks across 23.8 minutes per game across 48 contests for the Miami Heat that year. The rest is, as they say, history.
Landing the $100 million dollar deal from the Miami Heat that began in the 2016-17 season, things started to seemingly go downhill from there. He had a good year that year, but the chemistry and consistent hunger were beginning to lack.
Fast forward to the current moment though and that too is, as they say, history. He was since traded to the Portland Trail Blazers prior to this season in the deal that helped the Miami Heat land Jimmy Butler and all parties are better for it.
Former Miami Heat center, Hassan Whiteside, is about to break a record. It isn’t one that’s on the court though.
The Miami Heat, Jimmy Butler, the Portland Trail Blazers, and Hassan Whiteside are all in the Orlando bubble for the restart, alls well that ends well, end of story, and happily ever after. A real “cool story bro” moment, right? Or is it?
Well, it would be, except for the former Miami Heat big man revealed something recently on his social media account that, quite frankly, shocked me to my core. While some people in the real world can’t seem to get tested for the virus that has shaken our society, the NBA is giving them away like Oprah in her heyday. This is what we mean.
https://twitter.com/nbabubblelife/status/1282368485117448194?s=12
Yes, you read that right, as we had to do a doubletake ourselves. Hassan Whiteside claims here, in the above picture of a story posted to his Instagram from a newly minted Twitter account dedicated to the NBA bubble, that he has been tested 20 times for the coronavirus. That’s ridiculous.
It does beg of two very timely questions though. Is he being sarcastic?
Secondly, how in the heck has he managed to be tested 20 times, as fast or faster than 20 people can seem to be tested in the public sector? Not a real question to answer here, but it does highlight the insanity of our whole situation as a nation right now.
Well, one thing is for certain and that is if he has it, they will find it. I mean, they should find everything at that rate.