Cam Whitmore is not under a ton of pressure in his first season with the Wizards... at least at first glance. The team won't be competing for much this year — except maybe the top pick in the 2026 NBA Draft — and with only veteran CJ McCollum to compete with for minutes at shooting guard, Whitmore will get plenty of playing time and a neon green, flashing light to shoot whenever he's on the court.
Getting shots up won't be the problem. Getting Whitmore to buy in fully and compete at a high level every night is where the challenge might start. In Houston, Whitmore never seemed thrilled about his role and wasn't great at hiding his frustration with the inconsistent playing time he received in his two seasons under Ime Udoka.
That's somewhat understandable; as a first-round pick, Whitmore should want to be on the floor and help his team. But the Rockets were competing in the Western Conference the past two seasons and minutes were hard to come by on a talented roster. Instead of embracing his role (look at the Thunder or Pacers for great examples of guys doing that), Whitmore's attitude wavered and his disdain was obvious, which is not a great impression to make so early in his career. Fans weren't the only ones to notice, either. Tim MacMahon of ESPN mentioned Whitmore's attitude on The Hoop Collective podcast, saying:
"His maturity needs to improve. You talk about an NBA athlete, a guy who can put the guy in the hole... He has potential..."
And it's true — Whitmore has plenty of potential. And in Washington, he'll have plenty of opportunity, too. But he's likely going to come off the bench to start the year as this team figures out exactly who it's going to be. And maybe some nights Whitmore gets fewer miniutes than Kyshawn George or Bub Carrington or Bilal Coulibaly.
At the start of a rebuild, teams have to be willing to experiment with different lineups and players. Will Whitmore remain committed if his minutes dip for a few weeks in January, or if another young Wizard intrudes on his shot attempts?
Cam Whitmore must prove he's willing to take on any role asked of him
Okay, maybe not "any" role. Brian Keefe probably shouldn't ask him to be a pass-first point guard, considering Whitmore's career 1.7 assists per 36 minutes. But I'm pretty sure Brian Keefe won't ask him to do that.
Anyway, adding Cam Whitmore for two second-round picks was, without a doubt, a phenomenal move by Will Dawkins and Michael Winger. This is the type of move that rebuilding teams need to make; trading two second-round picks for a guy with obvious untapped upside.
But it's also worth asking why the other teams in deals like this were so willing to part with the player in the first place. In this specific trade, the Rockets were in a financial crunch after adding Kevin Durant and Dorian Finney-Smith. But Whitmore was the obvious man out in H-Town. They didn't try too hard to keep him around, and fans weren't too disappointed to see him go. His "sulking," on the bench as MacMahon described it, likely played a part in that.
Cam Whitmore has played just 98 games in his NBA career. He'll likely set career-highs in every statistical category you can think of in 2025-26. But the biggest question about his development might still be if he can buy in to the team aspect of team-building in Washington.