The Houston Rockets can't stop making moves. This time, the move was sending young wing Cam Whitmore to the Washington Wizards for two future second-round picks, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.
A Whitmore trade was expected as his place in Houston's lineup going forward is pretty much nonexistent. Tari Eason emerged as a clear building block last year, plus the team extended Jabari Smith Jr. this offseason, signed Dorian Finney-Smith and of course traded for Kevin Durant this summer. That's a lot of traffic on the wings, and Whitmore was left as the odd man out.
So, Washington snuck in and grabbed Whitmore — who hasn't been spectacular, but has averaged 10.8 points on good enough efficiency through his first two NBA seasons — for, essentially, scraps. Second-round picks get dealt all the time, and the Wizards could recoup those picks tomorrow if they wanted. To add a young, scoring wing with upside is always a risk worth taking. Plus, Whitmore should get some real run on a rebuilding Wizards team. That's just good front office work from GM Will Dawkins.
Trade grades: Wizards take low-risk swing with Cam Whitmore addition
I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again: I love. What. The. Wizards. Are. Doing. Seemingly every move in the past year and a half has been savvy; they've added veterans CJ McCollum, Khris Middleton and CJ McCollum to at least make the team semi-competitive the next few years, they've gathered draft assets to load up in the future and they have plenty of young talent on the team. Adding Whitmore for second-rounders is a fantastic move with pretty much no downside.
His role in Washington could be to backup Middleton at the small forward — or perhaps even start in games that the 33-year-old Middleton doesn't play. The scoring options for Washington get awfully thin in the second unit, and Whitmore might have a green light to just go out there and get some buckets for 20ish minutes per game.
For Houston... whatever. They probably needed to deal Whitmore, but the return was so thin that you start to wonder if it was worth it to just keep him on the team. Oh well. Houston's offseason has been so good that I can't nitpick this move too much. I can nitpick it a little, though.