Hassan Whiteside was asked about what he might think of the opportunity to become the franchise player of a team.
Whiteside has emerged as one of the NBA's most productive big men with the Miami Heat and he'll become a free agent this offseason.
"That'd be nice," Whiteside said when asked. "I feel like a lot of people want to be that. But I want to win more than anything. I don't really want to be the face of a losing franchise. You want to be a face of a winning program. And it's always easier to get people to come to Miami."
Whiteside has moved to the bench to accommodate Joe Johnson.
"That'd be nice," Whiteside said as he sat by his locker after a recent game, the subject raised to him, not by him. "I feel like a lot of people want to be that. But I want to win more than anything. I don't really want to be the face of a losing franchise. You want to be a face of a winning program. And it's always easier to get people to come to Miami."
Whiteside's free agency is a difficult one to predict due to how he fits with the team and the fact Miami will have to use cap space to re-sign him.
"It's going to be interesting," he said of his offseason. "The way I think now I might not think at the end of the season. I might have a different perspective. My perspective now is different than when I first came. A lot changed."