The NBA trade deadline has come and gone and Hassan Whiteside is still a member of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Many had speculated the Blazers could move Whiteside before Thursday's deadline, but Trail Blazers President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey said the Blazers never considered moving the Portland center.

"I don't know where that was coming from," Olshey said in an exclusive interview with Trail Blazers Insider Dwight Jaynes. "It was never coming from us. His name was never mentioned in trade conversations this year. He's our starting center."

Olshey's reasoning for retaining Whiteside was his stellar play since his acquisition last July. He praised the 30-year-old center for being one of the most efficient players in the NBA. Whiteside is shooting 61.1 percent from the floor while averaging 16 points and 14.1 rebounds per game. He leads the league with 3.1 blocked shots per game.

"He's performed beyond expectations, so I don't know why the expectation was that we were supposed to flip him for something else," Olshey said. "As you can see what happened with the marketplace, there weren't a lot of star caliber players on the market."

This means the Trail Blazers now have two starting caliber centers on the roster, both Whiteside and Jusuf Nurkic. Nurkic, who is recovering from a grueling left leg fracture suffered against the Brooklyn Nets last March, recently returned fully to practice. He suffered a setback in his recovery last week, when he sustained a mild right calf strain.

Olshey has said the team will be cautious in ushering Nurkic back to the court.

"We are not going to rush Nurk back. We're being conservative in his return," Olshey said. "We're going to monitor his minutes when he gets back. We're going to monitor back-to-backs when he gets back."

Prior to his injury, Nurkic averaged 15.6 points, 10.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 27.4 minutes per game. Now there's no question that the Blazers will have a solid backup option in Whiteside once the Bosnian Beast returns.

You can hear more from Olshey in the video above.

Neil Olshey says Hassan Whiteside was never on the trade block originally appeared on NBC Sports Northwest