{"id":464783,"date":"2025-12-10T12:24:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T12:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/464783\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T12:24:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T12:24:12","slug":"wizards-are-learning-about-the-real-cam-whitmore-firsthand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/464783\/","title":{"rendered":"Wizards Are Learning About The Real Cam Whitmore Firsthand"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Wizards<\/a> are easily one of the worst teams in the NBA at the moment. With the rising cast of young stars without a true number one option, and veterans who haven\u2019t lived up to their fullest potential, the team is no short of confusing and misled. No player fits these categories more than Cam Whitmore<\/a>. Now, the Wizards may be finding out why the Houston Rockets no longer needed Cam Whitmore\u2019s services.<\/p>\n

Wizards Are Learning About The Real Cam Whitmore Firsthand<\/p>\n

Whitmore, the 20th pick in the 2023 draft, has not had the best of starts to his NBA career. He was an afterthought in Houston after a strong rookie season. Then he was sent to Washington in a surprising move that left Wizards\u2019 fans salivating. It seemed the Rockets had given up on Whitmore<\/a> before seeing his true potential. In retrospect, Houston may have already known what Washington is learning now.<\/p>\n

Whitmore\u2019s Work Ethic<\/p>\n

After a rather tragic start to the season, Whitmore has slowly been building himself a solid role for the Wizards. He\u2019s not been playing outstanding, but neither has anyone else besides Kyshawn George<\/a> and Alex Sarr<\/a>. However, after he received a DNP in Washington\u2019s last outing<\/a> against the Atlanta Hawks, things may be more murky than originally thought. According to Grant Afseth<\/a>, there are some real concerns about Whitmore\u2019s practice habits and day-to-day work.<\/p>\n

\u201cInside the organization, the concern has been the day-to-day work. Amid a 3-19 start to the season, Washington has emphasized establishing firm practice habits and a consistent approach across its young roster, and Whitmore has not consistently met those expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, Wizards head coach Brian Keefe<\/a> answered questions about Whitmore\u2019s absence<\/a> from the lineup, stating:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have certain standards that we have for our team. He has to live up to those on the better, and he\u2019ll have a chance here; but that\u2019s gonna be up to him when that time comes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitmore possesses all the talent and physical tools necessary to become one of the best players on Washington\u2019s active roster. With that being said, if he isn\u2019t giving enough effort (it seems so), Washington should have no problem giving his minutes to guys who really want to be out there.<\/p>\n

His Struggles Don\u2019t Help
\n\";Nov 5, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Washington Wizards forward Cam Whitmore (1) and Boston Celtics guard Jordan Walsh (27) work for the ball in the first quarter at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Whitmore\u2019s season hasn\u2019t been great, and with news like this, it\u2019s hard to imagine it gets any better. Through the first 21 games of the season, he has averaged (or tied) a career low in points, assists, rebounds, and three-point percentage. His offense has been inconsistent at best, and he\u2019s almost a completely net-neutral player in terms of win shares.<\/p>\n

He was easily the most exciting addition to the roster over the offseason. However, he has failed fans and seemingly is beginning to annoy the front office. It\u2019s unfortunate that a player of Whitmore\u2019s potential fails to play at a higher level, given how bad the Wizards have been this season.<\/p>\n

If his work ethic doesn\u2019t improve, Washington will no doubt begin to shift him deeper into the bench or assign him to the Capital City Go-Go<\/a>. In turn, this would create more opportunities for players like Will Riley<\/a> and Justin Champagnie<\/a>. Both are players that the Wizards seem to have high hopes for as potential rotation players after the rebuild.<\/p>\n

The Last Word<\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s front office needs to be applauded. At the time, the trade seemed to be by far in Washington\u2019s favor. In retrospect, the deal looks to be in the Rockets\u2019 favor. Whitmore doesn\u2019t want to work, and if he stays this way, Washington may have to ship him out as soon as possible to avoid his value tanking too low.<\/p>\n

Featured Image: Lucas Boland-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Washington Wizards are easily one of the worst teams in the NBA at the moment. With the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3780],"tags":[7,4836,10683,6,682,468,3892,982,683],"class_list":{"0":"post-464783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-wizards","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cam-whitmore","10":"tag-justin-champagnie","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-washington","13":"tag-washington-wizards","14":"tag-washingtonwizards","15":"tag-will-riley","16":"tag-wizards"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115695260192170758","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}