What It Means:

Despite the loss, Whiteside shined for Miami. He hit 11-of-18 attempts from the floor while hitting one three-point attempt. He also made all three of his free throws and contributed a block and an assist in 36 minutes. Even more of note, the big man became the first player since Kevin Garnett, in 2007, to tally a 20-20 game in his first game of the year.

Whiteside exceeded his projected 41.3 FanDuel points by accounted for 55.9 in his big night. Next time out, we expect him to produce 16.9 points, 14.2 rebounds and 41.5 FanDuel points in a Saturday tilt with the Indiana Pacers.