So much for the silver lining of Amen Thompson's ankle injury being a bigger role for Cam Whitmore. The Houston Rockets are sending the Summer League MVP down to the G League for a stint with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, according to Michael Shapiro of the Houston Chronicle.
The move has yet to be made public and it's reportedly unclear when the Rockets will announce it. Teams across the G League tipped off training camp last week in preparation for the 2023-24 season. The Vipers open the regular season on Friday with a road tilt against the Memphis Hustle.
Whitmore has been out of Ime Udoka's rotation in the season's early going, all of his minutes coming in garbage time of three different games. The rookie scored his first NBA points early in the fourth quarter of Houston's blowout win over the shorthanded Sacramento Kings on Monday, a game he finished with seven points on 3-of-5 shooting while playing the entire final stanza.
No Rockets role for Cam Whitmore despite Amen Thompson's injury
Thompson sprained his right ankle against the Charlotte Hornets last week. He was later diagnosed with a Grade 2 sprain, Udoka telling reporters the No. 4 overall pick of the 2023 NBA Draft would be sidelined for “weeks.”
While Thompson and Whitmore play different positions and occupy different roles in Houston, there was an assumption the former's injury and uncertain timeline to return could create a path for Whitmore to find his way to the floor. Instead, the 19-year-old remain far outside Udoka's regular playing rotation in back-to-back wins over the Kings, also failing to see any minutes against Charlotte after Thompson went down.
It's tough to argue with the Rockets' recent results. They're 3-0 in the last three games, effectively playing a nine-man rotation that includes 37-year-old Jeff Green, who notched just 10 total minutes in consecutive blowout victories against Sacramento. Veteran guard Aaron Holiday has been the main beneficiary of Thompson's absence, averaging 17.0 minutes in Houston's past three games after not getting off the bench in back-to-back losses to the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors to close out October.
Additional playmaking behind Fred VanVleet is what the Rockets need most with Thompson out. Still, it's somewhat surprising Whitmore isn't being given the opportunity to play with the Rockets' regulars, especially after his athleticism, physicality and burgeoning shot-making prowess flashed during preseason action.
Even more vexing is that veteran wing Reggie Bullock, who signed with Houston at the start of training camp after being bought out by the San Antonio Spurs, has been stuck in his deep bench role amid Thompson's injury. Bullock's low usage offensively makes him a good fit for a Rockets team that needs connectors, and he's the most proven wing defender on the roster other than offseason acquisition Dillon Brooks, who's playing the best basketball of his career in the season's early going.
Tari Eason's likely debut against the Los Angeles Lakers likely looms large here. Once fully healthy and re-acclimated to the NBA game, the sophomore forward is a shoo-in for Udoka's nightly rotation.
It goes without saying that Whitmore will get more burn in Rio Grande this season than he ever would've in Houston. Given context of Thompson's injury and the Rockets' ongoing win streak surrounding his first G League assignment, though, it's more clear than ever that Whitmore is unlikely to get sustained developmental reps in games during his first NBA go-around—at least until Houston falls firmly out of the play-in tournament mix come early spring, that is.
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