Nuggets Eye Cam Whitmore as Lakers Face New Challenge
The Los Angeles Lakers just picked up another challenger in the Cam Whitmore sweepstakes — and it’s the one team in the West they least want poaching upside on the margins.
According to Marc Stein, the Denver Nuggets have “emerged as a team to watch” for Whitmore, the 22-year-old former first-round pick who hit free agency after the Cleveland Cavaliers waived him in late August. For a player the Lakers had circled as a low-cost bet on youth and athleticism, that’s a problem.
Nuggets Circle Back on Their Own Deal
Denver’s interest comes with a twist: Whitmore reached the open market because of a deal that already involved the Nuggets.
Cleveland landed Whitmore from Washington in the five-team trade built around Peyton Watson’s move from Denver to the Cavaliers. The Nuggets walked away from that transaction with a 2031 first-round pick, a 2032 second-round pick and Julian Reese. The Cavaliers later cut Whitmore on August 28, freeing him from the four-year, $15.6 million rookie contract he signed after the Houston Rockets drafted him No. 20 overall in 2023.
Now the Nuggets are in position to scoop him up at a fraction of that cost and, in a sense, replace some of the athletic pop they gave up in Watson.
This is exactly the kind of move contenders hunt for in September: a young, physically gifted scorer who doesn’t cost draft capital, doesn’t demand a big role, and doesn’t blow up the cap sheet.
A Flawed Prospect with Real Juice
The risk is obvious. Whitmore’s 2025-26 season with the Washington Wizards lasted just 21 games before a shoulder-related medical issue shut him down. In limited minutes, he averaged 9.2 points and 2.8 rebounds in 16.9 minutes, shooting 45.6% from the field and 28.6% from three.
Those surface numbers don’t scream “steal.”
Stretch the sample out, though, and the appeal sharpens. Over his three NBA seasons, Whitmore has averaged 21.8 points per 36 minutes. At 6-foot-6, he’s powerful in transition, explosive in space and still younger than some of the rookies who heard their names called in June.
The question has never been about tools. It’s about turning those tools into consistent, winning minutes on a good team.
Denver, with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray anchoring the offense, can afford to live with some rough edges. The Nuggets need fresh legs, downhill force and scoring punch at the back of the rotation. Whitmore checks those boxes if he stays healthy and buys into a defined role.
Why the Lakers Still Fit — and Why It Just Got Harder
For the Lakers, Whitmore always profiled less as a savior and more as a swing.
Los Angeles has already done the heavy lifting on offense this offseason. The front office brought back Austin Reaves and added Collin Sexton, Quentin Grimes and Sandro Mamukelashvili, giving Darvin Ham (or his successor, depending on timing) a deeper pool of established options.
That’s precisely why Whitmore made sense. He wouldn’t need to carry a bench unit or fix a glaring flaw. He could slot in as a developmental play — a 22-year-old with size, burst and scoring instincts, insulated by veterans and allowed to grow without the pressure of solving everything at once.
On a roster built around LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers’ biggest need is cheap, explosive athleticism that can survive playoff minutes. Whitmore looked like the kind of lottery ticket worth scratching.
Denver apparently sees the same thing.
Stein’s report doesn’t guarantee Whitmore ends up in Colorado, nor does it confirm the Lakers are actively bidding at this moment. But the dynamic changes the second another contender, especially one with Denver’s track record of internal development, steps into the race.
What was once a quiet, low-cost gamble for Los Angeles now risks turning into a bidding war of fit, opportunity and vision. The Nuggets can offer a championship ecosystem, a clear path to carving out minutes on the wing and the chance to grow alongside Jokic’s playmaking brilliance. The Lakers can counter with the spotlight of Los Angeles, the gravitational pull of LeBron and AD, and a rotation that still needs exactly the kind of energy Whitmore brings.
For a player trying to reboot his career, that choice will say plenty about how he sees his own trajectory.
The Lakers wanted an under-the-radar flier. The Nuggets might turn that flier into a head-to-head test of which contender can sell the better future.
