Abandoned child or an opportunity? Whitmore trading theory!

Trading content:

Rockets traded Whitmore, the 20th overall pick in 2023, to the Wizards, in exchange for two future second-round draft picks.

The outside world has different reactions to this deal. Some people say that the Rockets missed the future star, while others think that Whitmore can finally get an opportunity in the new team. But from a deeper perspective, this transaction is far from being a rookie deal.

Returning to Whitmore's basketball career, he started at Bishop McNamara High School in Maryland, and later attended Villanova University. Here, Whitmore began to show his offensive skills, extremely destructive breakthrough ability, solid low-post footsteps and mid-range jump shots, helping him choose to participate in the draft after a season in college.

Before the draft, Whitmore was generally predicted to be the top ten rookie, but he accidentally slipped to the 20th pick due to injury, and was eventually picked up by the Rockets, but the Rockets didn't care about it. That year they were big draft players and their reconstruction progress was making great progress. Despite this, Whitmore didn’t disappoint. He broke through the rotation limit in the mid-2023-24 season, averaged 12.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 0.8 steals in 24 games, and even won the MVP in Summer United, becoming the most watched young wing at the time.

Although he performed well in his first appearance, Whitmore has never been able to stand firm in the main rotation in the Rockets. The main reason is that the Rockets are overcrowded in the team's main rotation, putting aside the newly joined Durant, among the original team, Smith Jr., Tari Ethan, Amen Thompson and others occupy a lot of playing time, so Whitmore naturally finds it difficult to find stable space.

Secondly, Whitmore's style of play is incompatible with the requirements of Rockets coach Uduka. As the coach Uduka, who emphasizes discipline the most, Whitmore is relatively immature in defensive rotation, field vision, and off-ball running, which has gradually slipped from the edge of the rotation to the end of the bench.

Finally, after the Rockets traded Durant to determine the championship route, they chose to give up cultivating their excess potential. Whitmore was regarded as a potential asset that could not help the team in the short term, and was eventually put on the trading shelves.

also contacted several teams when the Rockets initially tried to sell Whitmore, but most of the opponents' potential assessments were unstable, and there were not many teams that finally offered. Faced with the chip packages for the 2026 Bulls second round pick and the 2029 Kings second round pick and the Rockets finally chose to make a decision based on rotation pressure.

From the Rockets' perspective, this is a deal that can release rotation pressure, reserve future assets, and reduce team risks, while from the Wizards' perspective, it is a low-cost bet. The Wizards have been actively rebuilding in recent years, sending away Bill, Possus and Kuzma, allowing the team to restart completely. Among the current core young teams, the main focus is Kulibaly, Trae Johnson, Clinton and others, and the addition of Whitmore can fill the gap in the Wizards' wing scoring point.

His explosive power and breakthrough ability can make the Wizards more three-dimensional in their conversion offense. In addition, he comes from a local Maryland background, Whitmore still has a great opportunity to establish a fan connection in Washington. Judging from the team lineup, the Wizards' possible preliminary plan for the new season should be to arrange him as the main attacker of the second team, and at the same time to adjust the chemistry between him and other young players, and even the possibility of him being able to squeeze into the starting lineup in the future.

From the perspective of advantage, Whitmore's breakthrough explosive power is strong enough, ranking in the first half of the Rockets in every 36 minutes, with a breakthrough efficiency of 98 points in a hundred rounds. At the same time, he can contribute 3.5 points per game in the fast break, making him one of the best conversion scorers in the team, and he can break through the opponent's defense with his speed advantage. In the face of many scoring methods such as backward jump shots and mid-range jump shots, he has a lot of offensive choices.

As for the disadvantage, Whitmore is easily distracted when changing defenses, and his defensive efficiency is also at the countdown level in the Rockets; his assists are also slightly weak, with only 1.2 assists per game, which is inefficient and missed, which is enough to show his immaturity in handling double-teaming and fast conduction; especially the loose tactical discipline mentioned above, often does not run at the rhythm in tactical execution, and has low participation without the ball, and the team's operating system is very likely to become a shortcoming point in him.

After the transfer, compared with different team environments, Whitmore needs to face more psychological reconstruction and role transformation. From being regarded as a favorite in the draft to being abandoned by the coach and then being traded, it was definitely a blow to the 21-year-old young player. In the Rockets, Whitmore needs to re-recognize his positioning and transform from an expected new star to an auxiliary link in team tactics.

Overall, this deal cleared the Rockets' rotation space, avoided the risk of depreciation of young players' value, and exchanged for future assets. At this stage, they have more clearly focused their resources on the core championship structure of Durant + Shen Jing + Amen; as for the Wizards, they exchanged two low-value second rounds for a potential front line that was once regarded as the top ten in the first round, with the potential returns far higher than future risks. Even if Whitmore failed in the end, the cost of this investment was low enough.

Summary of this deal, Whitmore's future has not been determined yet, and being traded does not mean a complete loss of opportunities. As a young man, he still has extraordinary athletic talent, rich scoring skills and excellent physical conditions, but at the same time, he also faces the challenges of defensive requirements, tactical discipline and role psychological reconstruction.

This deal gave Whitmore a chance and also gave the Wizards a chance to get onto the gambling table. Looking back five years later, the deal could be called a key step in the Wizards' success in rebuilding, or the Rockets missed the star player's failure. But anyway, the story of Whitmore is just beginning now.