The most exciting part of the NBA summer is here, as Monday is the day that teams can legally start negotiating deals with available free agents starting at 4:00 p.m. MDT. For the Denver Nuggets, the moves that they make will be few and far between, as they only have room to pick up one player on the TPMLE (worth $5.7 million) and sign the others players on a veteran minimum deal. Nikola Jokic said after the season that Denver’s roster didn’t have what it takes to compete for a title, and now is the time for Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace to change that.

The Nuggets brass also said that they don’t plan on trading any of the Nuggets’ big-time players away anytime soon, meaning that any deals in the trade market would have to involve the team’s limited amount of draft capital and role players.

Reports on Monday indicated that the Nuggets have expressed interest in a valuable bench player on the trade market, Houston’s Cam Whitmore. The 20-year-old forward is heading into his third season in the league, but hasn’t gotten real opportunity to make an impact within the Rockets organization. He has played 98 games in two seasons, and has came off the bench in all but five of those contests.

Whitmore has the tools that would complement Jokic very well on the offensive end of the floor, as he has shot just under 36% from 3-point range so far in the NBA while averaging 9.4 points per game.

let it fly Cam! 💸 pic.twitter.com/nAXIrXPG3Y

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) January 4, 2024

While the distance shooting is nice, the young wing out of Villanova also has the ability to fly high above the rim off cuts, another aspect of his game that would slot in perfectly next to Jokic.

Cam Whitmore has no chill pic.twitter.com/LaPQTG2Cav

— Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) January 23, 2025

As with any other trade, the Nuggets would need to match his salary, which is set to be just over $3.5 million for the upcoming season as he is still on his rookie contract. They would likely have to send over at least one of Julian Strawther and Peyton Watson, potentially both depending on how stingy the Rockets front office is in the talks. While Nuggets fans always want to throw Zeke Nnaji and Dario Saric into trade talks, the teams on the other end of the phone usually aren’t interested in those two.

Whitmore’s time in Houston has been puzzling, as expressed frustrations with his role back in January despite being on one of the best teams in the West. He also slid all the way down to the 20th pick in the in the 2023 NBA Draft despite being projected as a top-10 pick, with some reports that it was due to his character and how he performed in workouts, along with injury concerns.

Whitmore’s NBA journey hasn’t been all butterflies and rainbows, but he has shown that he can provide an instant spark offensively off the bench when a team needs it. His presence on Denver’s bench would be a great fit, especially after what the Nuggets have thrown out on the court in recent years to give the starters a breather. If Tenzer and Wallace can make it happen, then they need to get the deal done to help out Jokic and company.