Hassan Whiteside is now the new king of NBA trade rumors as his contract structure makes it hard for the Heat to sign him at a reasonable price.

According to Sun-Sentinel's Ira Winderman, signing Whiteside won't be as easy as it looks like as he lacks the minimum number of years for the Heat to have his bird rights.

"The only ways the Heat can re-sign Whiteside without regard to the 2015-16 salary cap is if he again accepts the minimum salary (not happening) or the Early Bird average salary, which could fall at about the $8 million range (also likely far below his expected market value)," Winderman wrote.

This means they will need to outbid other teams with significant amount of cap space to retain Whiteside's services. It is worth noting that the Heat took a gamble thinking Whiteside might actually not pan out for them. Turns out, he is destined to be a tenacious defensive presence.

"Instead, the Heat will have to hold aside sufficient cap space to re-sign Hassan, just as any outside team would," said Winderman. "Had the Heat signed Whiteside to a three-year deal instead of a two-year deal, they would not have had this issue (three seasons are required for full Bird Rights, which allows you to exceed the cap up to the maximum salary)."

With that said, the Heat have the option of trading Whiteside to another team to at least get something in return.

"About the only way Whiteside could be locked up before free agency would be if the Heat were to trade him to a team that has ample salary-cap space. Bottom line: Whiteside will enter 2016 free agency as a player up for grabs to any team with the requisite salary-cap space."

According to Yibada, Dallas Mavericks fans are suggesting that they could make a trade for the center in exchange for Zaza Pachulia, Dwight Powell, and a valuable 2017 first-round pick.