The Milwaukee Bucks may have missed on Peyton Watson, but the search for wing help is not over.
With Watson headed to Cleveland, ESPN’s Bobby Marks says the Cavaliers are expected to waive-and-stretch Cam Whitmore as part of the five-team deal to clear money for James Harden. If that happens, Milwaukee could be looking at a low-cost swing on a player who suddenly becomes available.
Whitmore fits the kind of gamble the Bucks should at least consider. The forward was a first-round pick just three years ago and is still only 22.
His NBA path has been uneven, with rocky stretches in Houston and Washington slowing things down, but the talent has never really been the issue. Across three NBA seasons, he has averaged 10.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, with flashes of two-way ability along the way.
That matters for a Bucks team still trying to sort out its forward rotation. After the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade, Watson and Jonathan Kuminga were the names most often tied to Milwaukee, and that makes sense given how unsettled the wing spots remain. If the Bucks strike out on Kuminga too, Whitmore would be a logical next move.
He would also qualify as the kind of buy-low addition Milwaukee needs while its youth movement takes shape. The upside is obvious enough: a former first-round talent, still young, at a position where the Bucks need bodies and answers.
There’s a catch, though. Milwaukee does not have clean roster space to add Whitmore without making moves of its own.
The Bucks are currently carrying 17 players and will need to get down to 15 standard contracts soon, with no clear solution locked in yet. Signing Whitmore would only make that more complicated.
Even so, if he does reach the open market, this is exactly the sort of reclamation project worth exploring. Milwaukee may not have the luxury of waiting around for perfect fits, so taking shots on young talent and seeing which one sticks makes sense. If the Bucks can give Whitmore steady minutes, they might get more out of him than Houston or Washington did.
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