The Los Angeles Lakers may have serious competition if they intend to make a run at Cam Whitmore.
NBA insider Marc Stein reported that the Denver Nuggets have emerged as a team to watch for Whitmore, the 22-year-old former first-round pick who became a free agent after the Cleveland Cavaliers waived him in August.
“The Nuggets, I’m told, have emerged as a team to watch in pursuit of Cam Whitmore,” Stein reported.
That qualifies as unwelcome news for Los Angeles after Whitmore previously surfaced as a possible Lakers target. Denver can offer something every team shopping near the bottom of its roster wants: a young scorer with legitimate physical tools and little acquisition cost.
Whitmore is now available for considerably less than the four-year, $15.6 million rookie contract he signed after Houston selected him No. 20 overall in the 2023 NBA Draft. Cleveland waived him on August 28, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Nuggets Give Lakers Another Competitor for Cam Whitmore
Denver’s interest is notable because Whitmore reached the market through a transaction involving the Nuggets themselves.
Cleveland acquired Whitmore from Washington as part of the five-team deal centered on Peyton Watson, who went from Denver to the Cavaliers. The Nuggets received a 2031 first-round pick, a 2032 second-round pick and Julian Reese in the transaction. Cleveland later cut Whitmore.
Now Denver could effectively replace some of the athleticism it surrendered in Watson with Whitmore at a fraction of the commitment.
There is risk involved. Whitmore played only 21 games for Washington in 2025-26 before his season ended because of a shoulder-related medical issue. He averaged 9.2 points and 2.8 rebounds in 16.9 minutes, shooting 45.6% from the field but only 28.6% from three-point range.
His appeal is easier to see when the minutes are normalized. Whitmore has averaged 21.8 points per 36 minutes over his three NBA seasons. He is 6-foot-6, powerful in transition and still younger than plenty of players teams just selected in the draft.
The catch has always been turning those tools into dependable winning minutes.
Why Whitmore Still Makes Sense for Lakers
The Lakers do not need Whitmore to become a primary scorer.
Their offseason already brought back Austin Reaves and added Collin Sexton, Quentin Grimes and Sandro Mamukelashvili, giving Los Angeles more established offensive options.
That arguably makes Whitmore more intriguing, not less.
He could be used as an upside swing rather than a player asked to solve a major roster problem immediately. At 22, his combination of size, burst and scoring ability is difficult to find among unsigned players in September.
Denver apparently sees the same opportunity.
And that is the problem for the Lakers. Stein’s report does not mean Whitmore is headed to the Nuggets, nor does it establish Los Angeles as an active bidder right now. But a player who made sense as a low-cost gamble becomes harder to land once another contender begins making the same calculation.
For a Lakers team looking for inexpensive athleticism around its established core, Whitmore was an interesting lottery ticket.
Denver may be reaching for the same one.
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