Latest Cam Whitmore cut vindicates the Rockets even more

Since the Rockets traded away Cam Whitmore last summer, things haven't exactly up for him. Whitmore played 21 games for the Wizards last season before a season-ending injury and has now been waived by the Cavaliers following a convoluted multi-team trade. Unfortunately, Whitmore just keeps showing the Rockets that he is not one of their big regrets the more he gets shopped around the league.

The Rockets were right to dump Whitmore

Losing Whitmore for a very meager return (2 second round picks) in the summer of 2025 initially felt like selling low on him, but the Rockets have seen dividends from their decision already. One of those picks was used to move up and select Bruce Thornton in this year's draft, who could be an instant contributor as early as next season. Meanwhile, Whitmore failed to show out even on the lowly Wizards despite his supreme physical talent.

Whitmore has always been a great athlete but he wasn't skilled enough for the Rockets to build around him. During his NBA career, he's struggled to score efficiently: just 45% from the field and 35% from three. Those numbers looked even worse in Washington; he only hit 29% of his threes there.

At the same time, Whitmore had poor defensive effort and lacked a team-first mentality. As the Rockets moved on from their rebuild, they needed players who would improve the team through selfless play. Whitmore was typically the opposite, hurting team chemistry with his bad body language and taking ill-advised shots because of his belief in himself.

Whitmore will have to fight for his NBA future

It'll be tough for Whitmore to convince another NBA team to take a chance on him. He's already flamed out now in two spots, one where his team was vying for the playoffs and one where they were blatantly tanking. Neither contenders nor rebuilding teams have much use for him right now. The market also looks quite bleak for better players of his mold, such as Jonathan Kuminga and Bennedict Mathurin.

It's also worth noting all this came after Whitmore's surprising drop in the 2023 Draft. He was originally projected to go much higher, but fell all the way to the Rockets at pick 20. Whitmore was coming off a promising college freshman season, but teams may have had concerns about his attitude or injury history.

Whitmore could very well wind up on a G-League or overseas roster somewhere while he tries to rehab his NBA value. If he wants another shot in the league, he'll have to prove his worth as a team-first player and efficient shooter first. Other players have followed this path recently but it involves a great deal of self-reflection and change towards a more selfless style of play.

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