“I think they carved out room for the young guys that they believe in,” Paul George says of the Kevin Durant trade and its ripple effects for Houston.
On “Podcast P with Paul George,” presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment, the nine-time NBA All-Star shared an interesting perspective on the blockbuster trade bringing Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets.
Now with the Philadelphia 76ers, George was initially complimentary of the deal.
“They see a window,” George said of the Rockets. “Shoutout to them. You have a young star in Alperen (Sengun, a 2025 All-Star), and that’s who they believe in. A rising star in Amen Thompson. Let’s put something around them to try and win.”
But George went on to say that Houston sending out two rotation players (Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks) for one (Durant) could benefit the Rockets due to the playing time it opens up.
“I think they made room for Cam Whitmore, who I thought should have been playing a long time ago,” George said. “He might be one of their better players. I didn’t know why he wasn’t playing enough last year.”
“They have another point guard there, Reed Sheppard, who I think is being slept on,” George added. “So, I think they carved out room for their young guys that they believe in.”
Whitmore and Sheppard were taken by Houston in the first round of the 2023 and 2024 drafts, respectively.
As things currently stand, both would seem to have at least a plausible route to rotation minutes in 2025-26. Beyond the starting lineup of Fred VanVleet, Thompson, Durant, Jabari Smith Jr., and Sengun, the only two established reserves for the Rockets are Tari Eason and Steven Adams.
Head coach Ime Udoka prefers to have a regular-season rotation of at least nine players, and as things currently stand, Sheppard and Whitmore could be next in line for those eighth and ninth roles. At a bare minimum, they would seem to have the most upside.
Then again, the NBA’s 2025 free agency window won’t open until next week (June 30), so it’s possible that Houston will soon add more competition for those spots. But at least as of now, Sheppard and Whitmore would seem to have strong cases to play.