Lakers Face Competition for Cam Whitmore as Nuggets Show Interest

The Los Angeles Lakers just picked up a new problem in their hunt for upside on the margins.

That problem wears a Denver Nuggets jersey. Or might soon.

Marc Stein reported that Denver has “emerged as a team to watch” for Cam Whitmore, the 22-year-old former first-round pick who hit free agency after the Cleveland Cavaliers waived him on August 28. For the Lakers, who had quietly been linked to Whitmore as a low-cost swing, the defending champions muscling into the conversation changes the math.

Nuggets Circle Back on Their Own Deal

Denver’s interest comes with a twist. Whitmore reached the open market through a trade that already involved the Nuggets.

Cleveland picked him up from Washington as part of a five-team deal built around Peyton Watson, who went from Denver to the Cavaliers. The Nuggets walked away from that transaction with future draft capital — a 2031 first-round pick, a 2032 second-rounder — and Julian Reese. Cleveland eventually cut Whitmore loose.

Now the Nuggets are eyeing the same player who briefly passed through that maze of transactions, effectively giving them a chance to recoup some of the athleticism they gave up in Watson, but at a fraction of the cost and commitment.

For a contender working near the tax line, that’s exactly the kind of flier front offices hunt for in September.

The Risk and the Temptation

There is a reason Whitmore is available.

He played only 21 games for Washington in 2025-26 before a shoulder-related medical issue shut down his season. In those limited minutes, he averaged 9.2 points and 2.8 rebounds in 16.9 minutes, shooting 45.6% from the field and just 28.6% from three.

On the surface, that’s a rotation scorer with shaky range and durability questions.

Zoom out, and the appeal sharpens. Across 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 a chunk of the players who just heard their names called in the most recent draft.

The question has never been about tools. It has been about turning them into reliable, winning minutes on a good team.

That’s the bet Denver is now considering: that in a structured, championship-level environment, those wild edges can be sanded down just enough to unlock a dangerous bench scorer.

Why the Lakers Still Fit — and Still Worry

For the Lakers, Whitmore always profiled as a luxury swing, not a savior.

They’ve already done the heavy lifting on offense this offseason, bringing back Austin Reaves and adding Collin Sexton, Quentin Grimes and Sandro Mamukelashvili. That gives Los Angeles a more stable scoring base around its stars and less urgency to find a young wing who can carry possessions from day one.

That’s exactly why Whitmore made sense.

He wouldn’t be asked to fix the second unit or close playoff games in May. He would be a developmental play: a 22-year-old with size, burst and scoring instincts you simply don’t usually find sitting on the market in late August and September.

Let him attack in transition, live on cuts and spot minutes, and see if the rest of his game catches up.

Denver apparently sees the same opportunity, and that’s where the tension lies for the Lakers. Stein’s report doesn’t guarantee Whitmore will sign with the Nuggets, and it doesn’t confirm that Los Angeles is actively pushing to land him right now. But once another contender with a track record of maximizing role players steps into the ring, the “low-cost lottery ticket” becomes harder to scratch.

The Lakers want inexpensive athleticism around their established core. They want upside without sacrificing flexibility. Whitmore checked all those boxes.

Now the reigning champions might be reaching for the same ticket — and in a league where margins decide titles, that kind of tug-of-war can echo deep into the season.