The Rockets reported last week that promising rookie forward Cam Whitmore would be out of the lineup for three weeks with a sprained right knee. The Rockets play their last game of the season on April 14 at the Los Angeles Clippers.
Rockets head coach Ime Udoka said that Whitmore had a sprained lateral collateral ligament. Udoka said the timetable could be shorter based upon how Whitmore reacted to treatment.
The news comes at an inopportune time as the Rockets, 32-35, make a push for the play-in. After Saturday’s win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Rockets have won five straight games, and seven out of their last eight. The team’s lone loss since March 2 was a 122-116 loss to the Clippers. Houston lost star center Alperen Sengun for the season to an ankle injury on March 10 in a win against the Sacramento Kings.
Whitmore, the 20th pick in the 2023 draft, has had a smashing rookie season thus far. On the year, the athletic wing has averaged 12.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game on 46.4% shooting from the floor and 36.1% shooting from deep. Whitmore’s production has come in just 17.8 minutes per game. Prior to the season, it was believed by many that the rookie would spend the majority of the year in the G-League given Houston’s logjam at his position.
Prior to the draft, and even as late as draft night, Whitmore was projected to be a top five pick in the lottery, even predicted in some mock drafts to go fourth overall to Houston (where the Rockets eventually took point guard Amen Thompson). But he mysteriously slid to 20th for unknown reasons, to Houston’s benefit.
Whitmore is earning $3.22 million this season, the first on his four year rookie contract. The team has options on Whitmore’s contract in 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 which they almost surely will exercise as a mere formality. With third year guard Jalen Green struggling for most of the first half of the season, many observers believed that Whitmore could be inserted into the team’s starting lineup at shooting guard to provide better shooting and spacing next to Sengun. Udoka himself said prior to the All-Star break that he was considering changes. That move never came.
Green has since taken off, averaging 24.4 points and 4.9 rebounds on 49.6% shooting from the floor and 36.2% from ‘3’ over his last seven games. If Green truly has turned things around, as the Rockets hope he has, the path for Whitmore to crack the starting lineup and earn major minutes seems unclear. Veteran Dillon Brooks signed a four-year, $86 million contract this past summer and has a hold on the starting small forward spot. And second year forward Tari Eason, currently injured, who led the team in overall net rating, is waiting in the wings to take that spot. Thompson, the point guard of the future, also fills minutes at the wing spots. Too many talented young players, all blossoming at the same time, is a good problem to have for general manager Rafael Stone.
For now, the Rockets just hope Whitmore can return to action sometime this season and close out what has been a stellar rookie campaign.
