After inconsistencies in his first season with the franchise, Washington Wizards forward Cam Whitmore will look to resettle into his role heading into the rest of the December slate.
The Washington Wizards dropped their third straight game, all by double digits, in a 131-116 loss vs. Atlanta on Saturday night, dropping the team to 3-19 overall and 1-9 over their last ten.
Washington wasn't out of it completely, though, mounting a third quarter comeback to trim the deficit to single digits before a pair of free throws from Malaki Branham tied the game at 97 overall minutes into the fourth quarter.
That would be the closest Washington would get, though, as the Hawks stretched their lead back to double digits midway through the quarter before walking out of Capital One Arena with a division win.
But one of, if not the biggest, storyline coming out of Saturday's loss was the absence of Cam Whitmore.
Whitemore, who has played at least 16 minutes in each of the last four games, did not log a minute in the loss as head coach Brian Keefe issued a blunt response when asked in his postgame press conference - a response that has since been clipped out of the Wizards' presser online.
"Cam was not in the lineup tonight. We have certain standards we have for our team. He has to live up a bit better and he'll have a chance here but that's going to be up to him when that time comes and has to meet the standards and expectations that we have for him as a team. That was the reason he wasn't in the game tonight,". Keefe said.
Keefe added, "that's the stuff we talk about internally" when asked for clarification.
"It's more stuff we saw in the game but I don't have anything more to comment on that."
A report on Monday morning pointed to practice habits being at the source of Whitmore's benching.
“If you’re trying to establish yourself in the NBA, you need to show up to practice,” one source told RG.
Whitmore arrived in Washington in a mid-summer trade in a trade that sent a 2026 second-round pick, 2029 second-round pick and the Pelicans' draft rights to Mojave King to Houston in exchange for Cam Whitmore, giving the DMV native and former Archbishop Spalding (MD) star a chance to capitalize on what was expected to be an increased role.
That's happened at times this season, though.
After playing no more than 16 minutes in Washington's first four games, Whitmore combined for 39 points in consecutive losses vs. Detroit and Dallas, playing 29 minutes in each game, though has played 20 minutes or more just once since then. Whitmore also has just three double digit scoring games since the early November showing, including 17 points and five rebounds in last week's 129-126 win vs. Milwaukee, though how he factors into the rotation the rest of the month is a question.
Whitmore is averaging 9.2 points, a narrow career-low, in 16.9 minutes while shooting just 28.6% from the field after shooting over 35% in each of his first two seasons.
Whitmore was drafted by Houston with the 20th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, averaging 10.8 points over his first two seasons with the Rockets while his 0.46 points per touch during the 2024-25 season marked the fourth-best among players to record 1,000 touches, according to ESPN research.