The Phoenix Suns’ already-underwhelming return in the Kevin Durant trade just got a whole lot worse…thanks to the Washington Wizards acquiring Cam Whitmore from the Houston Rockets.
If you’ll recall, the 20-year-old Whitmore was almost shipped to Phoenix as part of the KD blockbuster. But as league sources told Michael Scotto of HoopsHype noted, the Suns “opted for more future second-round draft pick compensation.”
Phoenix ended up bagging five second-rounders in the deal with Houston. We initially didn’t know how many of those accounted for Whitmore’s value. We do now.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Rockets are sending the youngster to the Wizards in exchange for two second-round picks. Two. That’s it. That is all it’s taking to land a 6’7” wing with a tantalizing offensive armory, and who has two more cost-controlled years left on his rookie scale.
There is no excuse for the Suns passing on this exact opportunity.
Cam Whitmore is the kind of flier Phoenix needs
Do you know many players on Phoenix’s roster currently boast Whitmore’s combination of size, youth, and scoring upside? Exactly zero. Looking at him and deciding, “Nah, we’re good with a couple of additional seconds” is bonkers logic from the team’s decision-makers.
To be fair, Whitmore is not a superstar hiding in plain sight. He gets tunnel vision on the ball, his defense waxes and wanes, and for all his scoring chops, he is shooting below 60 percent at the rim and under league average from three through his first two seasons. It says a lot that he couldn’t carve out a consistent spot in Rockets’ rotation, and that they are willing to part with him for two seconds.
Then again, Houston is a special brand of deep. Selling low on Whitmore is more so about balancing out and tightening the rotation than it is a full-on indictment of what he can do on the floor.
And hey, even if the Rockets moving him is a red flag, they are not the Suns. This team should be in the high-risk, high-reward business as it looks to recalibrate around Devin Booker.
Worst-case scenario, Whitmore turns into no one special while making a total of $9 million over the next two years. Best-case scenario, he turns into a mainstay rotation player—or someone more.
This is a continuation of a troubling Suns trend
Full disclosure: The KD trade doesn’t just look even more underwhelming because the Suns didn’t get Whitmore. It’s more about what passing on him represents: a continued commitment to the shortest-sighted possible visions.
From not negotiating harder when they landed Durant from the Brooklyn Nets and belly flopping right into the Bradley Beal trade, to potentially turning Beal into a half-decade’s worth of dead cap hits and prioritizing second-round picks over a legitimate prospect, the Suns under owner Mat Ishbia have shown a blatant disregard for the bigger picture. That’s not a damning mindset when you’ve won titles, or are contending for them. Phoenix has not, and is not.
The Suns have instead plopped themselves in the bottom of the middle, all while remaining prohibitively expensive. Their vision is so incoherent, so completely inexplicable, it would be hilarious if it wasn’t already ruining the fan experience.
Perhaps Phoenix will eventually shift its mindset. If its decision to undervalue Whitmore in KD talks is any indication, though, "eventually" isn't coming anytime soon.