Rockets vindicated for dismissing underperforming forward struggling in new home

The Houston Rockets made the controversial decision to trade away Cam Whitmore this offseason. As the young forward struggles in his new home, the Rockets are vindicated for giving up when they did.

On April 11th, 2025, the Rockets played their penultimate game of the regular season against the Los Angeles Lakers. Second-year forward Cam Whitmore started and played 37 minutes as Houston rested multiple players. He shot 13-for-19 from the field, 7-for-12 from deep, and scored 34 points to go along with 8 rebounds.

That was the kind of performance that suggested the Rockets had a steal on their hands after drafting Whitmore with the 20th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. Yet another part of the box score also matters: Whitmore was -23 in his 37 minutes. In the Rockets' first-round playoff series Whitmore played just over five minutes total, and a few months later the team traded him away.

It wasn't as if Rafael Stone and company included him in a blockbuster deal either. They traded for Kevin Durant without including Whitmore. Instead, they traded him to the Washington Wizards for two second-round picks. Such a return suggested that the Rockets valued him as a disappointment on their original investment of the 20th pick, not as a draft steal.

Many Rockets fans and outside observers panned the front office for such a move; Whitmore had shown real flashes, put up massive scoring stretches, and was under contract for another two seasons on his rookie contract. Why didn't the Rockets keep him around?

The Rockets have been vindicated

The answer was able to be found at the time, but it is certainly evident now. The reason the Rockets traded Cam Whitmore and couldn't get more of a return is that his skillset is not one that drives winning in the NBA. He is a score-first, pass-last, defensively shaky, undersized forward; that kind of player scores a lot of points, but they are not usually a key part of a winning team.

That is why the Rockets made the move; they have plenty of young players to develop, and they needed some support players who can fill a role and drive winning. It was more valuable for the team to have Clint Capela and Jeff Green and Josh Okogie than Cam Whitmore. That decision could have come back to haunt them if Whitmore broke out with room to fly in Washington; that has not happened.

Instead, Whitmore has struggled to make his mark on a Wizards team with plenty of touches to go around. The third-year player is averaging fewer minutes in Washington than he did in Houston, just 16.9 per game, and has not started a single contest. He is shooting only 28.6 percent from 3-point range and needs eight shot attempts per game to score his 9.2 points. He has committed 18 turnovers to just 15 assists.

The entire Wizards operation is largely a disaster this season as they tank once again, and 21 games is a short sample to judge Whitmore on. For all those expecting Whitmore to be a candidate for Sixth Man of the Year or Most Improved Player this season, however, those ships appear to have sailed. Whitmore is not ready to take a leap forward.

The Rockets made a difficult choice, but it appears to be the right one. Cam Whitmore has not proven himself to be a winning player, and the Rockets are a team ready to win now. They have received all the vindication they could want to start this season.