Fansided

Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside out Friday night vs. Bulls

By Brad Berreman

Jan 23, 2017; Miami, FL, USA; dMiami Heat center Hassan Whiteside (21) laughs after Miami Heat guard Dion Waiters (not pictured) made the game winning three basket over Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (not pictured) during the second half at American Airlines Arena. The Heat defeated the Golden State Warriors 105-102. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 23, 2017; Miami, FL, USA; dMiami Heat center Hassan Whiteside (21) laughs after Miami Heat guard Dion Waiters (not pictured) made the game winning three basket over Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (not pictured) during the second half at American Airlines Arena. The Heat defeated the Golden State Warriors 105-102. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
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As he deals with an ongoing ankle injury, Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside will miss Friday night’s game against the Bulls.

With a five-game winning streak going, spurred partially by some big games and late-game heroics from guard Dion Waiters, the Miami Heat have started to pull themselves out of the cellar of the Eastern Conference. At 16-30 right now a lottery pick is probably still coming in June, but the Heat can salvage some positivity from this season with a strong final few months of the season.

Center Hassan Whiteside has followed up a breakout 2015-16 season with even better numbers this year (16.9 points and 13.9 rebounds per game). But he continued to play through a recent ankle issue Wednesday night against the Brooklyn Nets, struggled mightily in the game (seven points, one rebound, one block and one assist over 21 minutes) then admitted he shouldn’t have done so. Now Whiteside will not be available to head coach Erik Spoelstra on Friday night against the Chicago Bulls.

The Heat will play the second of a back-to-back set Saturday night at home against the Detroit Pistons. The team’s Twitter account has passed along Spoelstra’s suggestion that Whiteside will be reevaluated before that game, when the team returns home to Miami. So Whiteside could easily miss the next two games, and the Heat are right back in action again Monday night against the Nets.

Next: FanDuel daily NBA picks: January 27

Willie Reed is expected to get the start at center for the Heat against Chicago, and he has averaged 13.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game (26.3 minutes per contest) over four previous starts in Whiteside’s place this season. So there is some appeal to Reed as a value DFS play Friday night if that’s your thing. Whiteside obviously has to be removed from any daily fantasy lineups for Friday night too, and his status for Saturday night has to monitored before he can be deployed in any fantasy format.

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