A serious health scare sidelines Cam Whitmore indefinitely as he's dealing with deep vein thrombosis.
Washington Wizards forward and DMV native Cam Whitmore is out indefinitely after being diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder, ESPN's Shams Charania reported on Tuesday.
The former 2022 first round pick by Houston was traded to Washington this past offseason for two future second round picks. However, Whitmore's 2025-26 campaign has not gone the way he wanted it to.
In 21 games played this season, Whitmore is averaging 9.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.7 assists on 45.6/28.6/74.2 shooting splits for the 5-22 Wizards.
Whitmore's injury is unusual, but not rare. Victor Wembanyama suffered from deep vein thrombosis last season, as the injury caused him to miss the whole second half. Luckily for Whitmore, Wembanyama made a full recovery after the injury and has now established himself as one of the best players in the NBA.
What was already a frustrating year for Whitmore now becomes even more spoiled. Washington saw the upside that Whitmore possessed, and he has shown flashes of that potential throughout the year as he has scored 15 or more points four times this season.
Whitmore's raw athleticism makes him a dynamic scoring threat in transition as we've seen him throw down monstrous dunks, but unfortunately for Whitmore, that's only a fraction of the game.
Whitmore's 28.6% from beyond the arc ranks sixth worst on the roster, behind non-shooters like Bilal Coulibaly, Malaki Branham and Justin Champagnie.
The move back home to Maryland hasn't served Whitmore well, but with a full recovery, he should be ready to go by the start of the 2026-27 season.
In the NBA, treating a blood clot follows a much stricter standard than other sports would. We've seen NBA greats such as Chris Bosh have his career end early due to blood clots.
NBA teams are more likely to manage blood clots in a long-term risk managing way rather than speed, due to how serious this injury can be. We saw this type of approach with Victor Wembanyama last season, whose rehab process took nearly six months before he was medically cleared to resume team activities.
The medical staff in Washington will take a deliberate approach to Whitmore's rehab.
A scary situation for the former first round pick, but the talent that Whitmore possesses is inevitable -- Brian Winger and Will Dawkins noticed that untapped potential as well. Hopefully Whitmore recovers from this injury so he can showcase himself to the rest of the league, once again.