Earlier this summer, Whiteside texted all of his teammates to tell them that he had scheduled a South Beach workout with his skills trainer Gabe Blair and fitness guru Tony Thomas. Below is how the messages were exchanged, according to Haberstroh:
“So, Whiteside texted, who’s in?”
“For over an hour, no one responded to Whiteside’s text. Not one teammate.
“‘I was like, ‘f—,’ Wade says now looking back a few weeks later.
“Wade didn’t want to let ‘lil bro’ down—especially if it’s Whiteside looking for a group workout.
“Wade texted back: ‘Yo I’ll be there.’
“The next morning, when Whiteside showed up early with Blair at 7:45, Wade was already there, ready to go at Ninth and Collins. Heat guard Rodney McGruder arrived shortly thereafter. And so the four of them went to work. Push-ups. Bear crawls. Agility drills. Sprints. Core workouts. The works.
“‘It was tough; it was definitely the last thing I wanted to do,’ Wade says now, laughing. ‘But definitely glad I did it. I made sure I was there. I wanted him to know I’ll be there for him.’
“Wade’s presence made an imprint on Whiteside.
“’That’s what a leader does,’ Blair says. ‘The little things that doesn’t show up in the box score but means way more than any statistic.’”