Cam Whitmore is an easy prospect to love. During his sole year at Villanova, his statistical profile was rare and beautiful, like an exotic bird—only six other freshmen in the last 15 years have equaled his combination of athleticism (28 dunks), three-point volume (108 attempted threes) and efficiency (57.1 percent true shooting). And of this lofty cohort—five of the other six were lottery picks while Taylor Hendricks is a no-doubt lottery pick this year—Whitmore is the most self-assured shot creator and proactive perimeter defender. The case for Whitmore is simple: he’s a gobstopping athlete with a budding offensive repertoire who doubles as one of the youngest American in the draft, not even turning 19 until early July. He’ll be a star anywhere, but these are the three best destinations for Cam Whitmore now that the post-lottery NBA Draft order is set.

3. Houston Rockets, 4th pick

Nobody knows what next year’s Rockets will look like except for the fact that they shouldn’t look like this year’s. By hiring new coach Ime Udoka, the Rockets have signaled that their years of pointless, purposeful badness are over, especially if they lure James Harden back in free agency.  Even without Harden, this is a roster that’s loaded with potential. Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green are as gifted (albeit, also as myopic) as any young backcourt in the NBA; Jabari Smith Jr. is an elite shooter despite being a 6’10 teenager; Alperen Sengun looks like Nikola Jokic from a distance and Tari Eason generates fistfuls of useful chaos. 

Still, their roster is somewhat bifurcated—Green and Porter hold down the backcourt and Sengun and Smith man the frontcourt, but there’s no real option on the wing. Enter Whitmore. In Houston, Whitmore would make the Rockets make sense, balancing out a lopsided rotation. He’d be athletic enough to fit with Green and Porter’s go-go inclinations, but canny enough to make smart cuts around Sengun. Whitmore alone might not make the Rockets good, but he’d, at long last, make them watchable. 

2. Indiana Pacers, 7th pick

At this stage in their development, the Pacers just need to get Tyrese Haliburton more toys. Already an elite playmaker, Haliburton was only held back by the fact that his teammates weren’t quite on his level. Skip passes were flung to guys who defenses didn’t fear; hit-aheads were delivered to players who squandered them. With Cam Whitmore, though, Haliburton could make the Pacers’ offense sing. Paired with Bennedict Mathurin, Whitmore would be part of an immensely promising and dynamic wing duo, flanking one of the league’s smartest point guards. 

At Villanova, Whitmore had to labor for his shots. Since Villanova lacked a point guard or good shooters, Whitmore generated the lionshare of his points wholecloth as fewer than 50 percent of his buckers were assisted. Every dunk or moment of brilliance was a minor act of defiance on a team that played slowly and inexpertly. If Whitmore could be so productive on a bad, badly structured team, just imagine how good he’ll be when he has Haliburton spoon-feeding him shots within a properly-spaced offense. 

Last season, Mathurin made First Team All-Rookie, averaging 16.7 points per game. Whitmore is clearly a better prospect than Mathurin was prior to the 2022 NBA Draft, so the Pacers have to be salivating at the prospect of him doing the same. 

1. Detroit Pistons, 5th pick

Missing out on Victor Wembanyama sucks. Despite trudging to the worst record in the NBA, the Pistons had the worst possible luck in the lottery, getting jumped by four teams and falling to the fifth pick in the NBA Draft. Still, Whitmore is a fairly hand-in-glove fit for the Pistons as they methodically build around future superstar Cade Cunningham. If Cunningham operates like a big-bodied SUV and Jaden Ivey is a lithe sports car, Whitmore represents some synthesis between the two. Like Cunningham, Whitmore is burly enough that he steers defenders where he wants to go rather than get steered by them. But like Ivey, he’s also incredibly fast, capable of getting into the lane without even requiring a dribble move by dusting his defender with his first step. 

As Detroit fills out the roster around its core of Cunningham and Ivey (and, to a lesser extent, center Jalen Duren), Whitmore is the exact kind of player they should target. He’s equally capable with or without the ball—he’s a talented isolation scorer who can target weaker matchups, but is also a dangerous cutter who can sneak behind defenses for highlight-worthy alley oops. Despite his reputation as a bad passer, Whitmore would be a purely additive presence with the Pistons, scaling his usage up or down depending on the circumstances.