I would raise an eyebrow and think about it, but honestly I think I'd have to say no.
Whiteside has some potential no doubt about that, but he's a very big gamble. I don't think he's a max contract player personally, and I think giving him a max contract would be throwing around max money just for the sake of throwing around max money.
Whiteside definitely fills some needs (rebounding, rim protection) but his defensive versatility is highly questionable, and his lack of offensive talent makes it difficult because we don't have a scoring big who we can put alongside him. That means if we add whiteside we essentially have no front court offence, which makes it incredibly easy for opposing teams to defend out perimeter guys.
If we could pick up a quality offensive PF (e.g. Kevin Love, Ryan Anderson, Blake Griffin, Ben Simmons) then I wouldn't be as concerned, as we wouldn't need him to score. As the team is currently made up though we need more offensive from our bigs, and Whiteside doesn't offer a lot.
I wouldn't be opposed to signing him, but a max is too rich for me...and I think everybody knows he's not signing anywhere for less then that.