REPORT: Rockets & Cam Whitmore Preparing To PART WAYS | Will Houston REGRET Letting Him Go?

REPORT: Rockets & Cam Whitmore Preparing To PART WAYS | Will Houston REGRET Letting Him Go?

On today’s show, why it appears Cam Whitmore’s days in Houston are unfortunately numbered. And what do we expect out of contract negotiations with Tari Een and Kevin Durant for their possible extensions? It’s all coming up right here at Locked on Rockets.
This is mission control Houston.
Ignition sequence start. 6 5 4 3 2 1 zero. What is up and welcome to another edition of Locked on Rockets, your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball. As always, I’m your host, Jackson Gatlin, native Houstononian and credentialed media member. I’m also the host of Locked on NBA Thursdays. Be sure to follow along wherever you listen to your podcasts or on YouTube. Just search Locked on Rockets where the best way you can help us grow our show is to listen every single day on a podcast platform of your choosing and then like, comment, subscribe on YouTube. And as always, thanks so much for making Lockdown Rockets part of your day every single day, whether it’s on your way to work, on your lunch break, in the gym. Thank you so much for being an everydayer. Uh, got a hodgepodge show put together for you guys today. Later on, we’re going to take a look around the league and see some of the other uh, offseason winners and teams that are making some significant noise this off seasonason, both in free agency, via trade, that kind of stuff. Um, kind of my personal like running board of teams that have made some noise. And then we’ll also take a look at the extensions that are hopefully, knock on wood, coming down the pipeline for Kevin Durant and Tari E and what some of those numbers possibly will look like. We’ll make some predictions on what those contract extensions and what those discussions will ultimately turn into. And here at the top, we’re going to be talking a little bit more about Cam Whitmore because unfortunately, it seems like his days in Houston might be numbered. And that’s not exactly because that’s what the Rockets want. So, this is kind of my understanding of the situation at this point. After the initial signings of Dorian Finny Smith and Clint Capella, you know, there was a lot of speculation that, oh, well, Cam Whitmore is going to he’s he’s gone, right? This means Cam Whitmore’s got to go. the Rockets don’t have enough money and they’re going to try and dodge, you know, the the tax apron and all this stuff. After I did some digging, poking around, right, I I basically found out that no, that that those signings did not mean that Cam Whitmore had to be moved and that there was still a strong possibility that the Rockets would keep Cam Whitmore on the roster despite making those moves. Because internally, the Rockets, they they they like Cam Whitmore. They think he’s got a ton of upside, a a huge ceiling. um hasn’t quite figured things out yet, but he’s, you know, only got two years under his belt. He’s still a very young player. Um unfortunately though, there’s some reporting from the athletics Kelly Eco that suggests that the Rockets may be ready to move on from Cam Whitmore. Um Houston isn’t finished doing business either. The franchise will continue to work on finding third-year 20-year-old Cam Whitmore a new home via trade and look to find a solution for reserve center jock either by trade or simply waving him ahead of his July 7th guarantee date. It also appears that Capella’s addition will need to expand into a signing trade given Houston’s cap situation. Now, my understanding from at least the Rocket side of things here is that I think this is more Cam and his frustration with his role or lack thereof at this current point in his career. And, you know, the Rockets aren’t necessarily the ones feeling like they need to make a move, right? they would be they’d probably be more than happy to just keep Cam Whitmore around, let him continue to absorb the lessons from the veterans on the roster and work hard in practice and be there for some spot minutes occasionally. Um, and once you know, Emeoka sees what he needs to see, be it in practice or in some live game reps whenever, you know, Cam starts to get some time, you know, playing behind other guys or stepping up in the rotation due to injury, things like that. Um, that would be, I think, the Rockets way that they would want to maybe slowplay this whole situation. They still like Cam, but it seems to me like this is some frustration from Cam’s side and that they want him to have a more clearly defined role on a team somewhere else, which is why they’re working with the Rockets front office and which is why the Rockets front office is working with them. We’ve known ever since Rafel Stone took over as the Rockets general manager. One of the things that has stood out that was so different from the Daryl my era of this team into the Rafel Stone era of this team is how much Rafel Stone values his reputation with players. If players are unhappy if they’re not getting what they want. Um, think about all the players who were kind of leftovers holdovers from the James Harden era that wanted to be moved on to different situations that were unhappy in their roles in Houston. Um, Rafel Stone has largely worked very closely with players for years now and has kind of built himself a reputation as a GM that does do right by his players. And so this would be another in in a long line of situations where a player is unfortunately, you know, a little unhappy, a little frustrated with their situation on the Rockets. And it’s understandable. Like you look at it from Cam’s perspective, he’s this, you know, 20some, you know, incredibly talented kid on any of the other, you know, on any of the bottom five, bottom 10 teams in the league. He’d be getting he’d probably be starting or he’d be getting at least like 20 to 30 minutes a night to really showcase himself to prove that he belongs in the NBA. Um, and that’s never really been a question with the Rockets. It’s more been about can he buy into what this team needs from him and what Inuoka specifically needs from him, especially on the defensive end of the floor, right? And even on the offensive side with all the talent there, right? There’s certain limitations. There’s a tendency at times to be a bit, you know, a bit tunnel visioned, a bit of a black hole offensively, right? So, it’s really unfortunate if this is how things are going to kind of transpire with Cam Whitmore. And it’s also a little frustrating, you know, in all honesty because it feels like maybe a bit of a mismanagement of an asset when you look at what the Rockets maybe could have had in Cam Whitmore and due to maybe some uh inflexibility from Enoa and the coaching staff to allow Cam Whitmore his opportunities to, you know, play through some of the struggles that other players were afforded to be able to play through, right? I mean, you know, Jaylen Green got a ton of opportunities, endless chances, you know, in the first two years of the Emodoka to play through stuff, to grow, to become a more well-rounded player. And by the time that, you know, the Rockets were ready to move on from him, Jaylen Green was, you know, tremendously a more well-rounded player, right? He was a better defender, better ball handler, better playmaker, like all across the board, but he had the opportunity to, you know, make those mistakes and grow and learn from them. Cam wasn’t even really given the opportunity unfortunately and that’s got to sting, right? Like I know that’s the part that’s rubbing Rockets fans um wrong in this whole situation is that it feels like Cam kind of became an afterthought because of how quickly this team pivoted to playing, you know, winning basketball quote unquote last season. Um and he’s going to be one of the casualties of the rebuild, right? So at this point it’s unfortunate because Cam’s got all this talent. Um, and it it felt like he was maybe headed for an opportunity this upcoming season. And look, it’s not nothing here is a guarantee. It it’s it’s one report and maybe they’re able to squash some of these frustrations. Maybe they’ll they’re able to paint a bigger picture of, you know, a potential role for Cam Whitmore this next year. Who knows? Um, I’m in the camp that I’d like to see Cam Whitmore stay in Houston. I’d like to see him get a legitimate shot in the rotation. Even if it’s something simple as just like 10 to 15 minutes a night in a very small reserve role, let him prove that he doesn’t fit, right? Let him get him, you know, a quarter of a season of reps before you decide to move on from because if they move on from him right now, it feels like the Rockets aren’t going to get much for Cam Whitmore, right? They’ll be lucky to get some, you know, some second round draft picks or maybe like a late first from, you know, some team that that wants to take a high upside swing on Cam at this point. Um, which is really unfortunate because you looked at how the roster was kind of completed after the DFS and Clint Capella signings and they had an incredibly deep 14 15man roster with incredible depth at every single position. And for a team that might still face, you know, some offensive struggles here or there next season because it’s a largely defense defensive oriented roster, it felt like Cam Whitmore would have had a chance to really thrive and shine with how effective he can be offensively, especially playing off of Alpour and Shingun, possibly playing off of Kevin Durant. So, we’ll see what ultimately happens with Cam. It feels like maybe there’s a disconnect there um you know between the Rockets and Cam and kind of what both sides ultimately want which is really unfortunate given um how talented he is. But at this point, you know, if Cam’s unhappy, if if his team is unhappy with him in Houston, if he wants a more clearly defined role, then send him to some place where he can really shine. Um, and that’ll be disappointing to see from afar as a Rockets fan, but uh kind of wondering like what could have been, but at this point um it also it’s also hard to envision how much of a role he can have here in Houston. Um given some of his current limitations as a player, given where this team is headed, their trajectory towards, you know, being in contention mode this upcoming season, all those factors at play with that. I want your thoughts on the Cam Cam Whitmore situation. Let me know how you feel about how the Rockets are handling things there. Coming up, we’ll take a look at the possible extensions for both Tari Een and Kevin Durant. What could those numbers look like moving forward? And we’ll take a look around the league. Who are the winners and couple losers from the NBA offseason so far? We’ll get there in just one moment. First, today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Do you ever wish managing your money felt easier? With Monarch Money, it can feel easier. 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And continuing on here at Locked on Rockets, your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball. All right, let’s pivot here and take a look at some possible extensions for both Tari E and Kevin Durant. Now, one thing is, you know, one reason that we haven’t heard any talk at all about the KD extension is because the trade actually can’t be official, right, until July 6th. So, uh, once the trade officially goes through and Katie is officially a member of the Houston Rockets, I’m sure we’ll hear pretty quickly rumblings about the extension discussion and what will ultimately happen on that front. Now, at the end of the day, we did have some reporting from Shams that KD might be willing to take a little bit of a pay cut on his possible extension. He’s his extension if he inks it right now or after the trade’s complete is worth I believe two years $122 million $121 million somewhere thereabouts. Um, and if you’re KD and you’re looking at this situation, if KD is truly serious about winning, this will be the first step in proving that he cares more about winning than just securing the bag, getting his two-year payday, and riding off into the sunset. Because if you’re the Rockets and you look around at at what the team was able to achieve this off seasonason, one of the only reasons that the Rockets were able to sign Dorian Finny Smith and sign Clint Capella and make the moves that they’re making this off season is because of Fred Van Vleet being willing to sacrifice money in the here and now and going from making $45 million this year on his team option. I granted it’s a team option, right? you know, negotiating his contract all the way down to $25 million annually. That’s huge. And that negotiation and Fred sacrificing some of that guaranteed money was massive for the Rockets financial flexibility to be able to achieve some of the things that they did this off season. And you also look at situations like Steven Adams taking probably, you know, a bit of a teamfriendly deal. You look at um the the fact that Rafel Stone was able to mastermind Alper and Shingun’s deal less than the rookie scale max last offseason. You look at the stay ready crew and that trio of veterans and Aaron Holiday, Jeff Green, and Jan Tate who all stayed back on vet minimum deals and even Aaron Holidayiday’s deal, right? The Rockets probably overpaid him a little bit this past season. he made like four and a half $5 million and that was probably like a bit of a kind of an an advance on his pay rate, right? Where they were like, “Okay, hey, we’re not going to be able to pay you more next summer. So, we’re going to pay you more right now while we have the cap space to do it.” And so, when you look at a possible KD extension, I’m not saying KD needs to give up like it first off, it’s always like I I’m firmly in the camp of like players should try and get the maximum amount of money that they can while they’re playing. Um, but at the same time, if Katie, you know, and his camp understand the restrictions of the first and second apron and what may ultimately, you know, befall this Rockets team in the coming in the next, you know, two to three years depending on what his extension looks like. if his extension if he’s able to you know give up in the realm of you know 5 to7 million a year like ballpark so like 10 to 14 or 15 million over the lifetime of the contract if that’s enough to make a dent to keep the Rockets like out of the second apron or to give them some flexibility within the first apron uh or to allow them the opportunity to do some other things under both aprons down the line whatever that number is whatever that threshold is if Katie is able to give back a little bit. Not a ton. I’m not asking Katie to jump to drop from making 60 million down to like 40 million. That’s absurd. But giving the Rockets a little bit of a kickback on those final two years of his contract. He can’t do anything about this next season. Like his salary for this next season is non-negotiable. It is what it is. The 54 54 point something million that’s stuck. But two years two years 100 million 2 years 110 million. is that like you know dropping you know 10 to 12 million maybe I mean dropping 20 million off the total of the contract that’s 10 million a year that would be a substantial pay cut and if KD were willing to do that here in Houston that would signal that he is so serious about trying to win at the highest level and you know s again sacrificing that amount of money is is not completely unheard of but it is rare for a star player to sacrifice that much money especially on what’s going to essentially be the final contract of KD’s career, the final big contract or big extension of Katie’s career at this point. So, for him, somewhere in that sweet spot of like a 2-year extension in the 100 to like 10 million range would be huge cuz that’s enough of a a kickback that it helps the Rockets, give them a little bit of financial flexibility. Anything past that would be pro pretty much unheard of and would really really change probably the perception around Katie. the fact that he came to Houston and is willing to sacrifice north of 10 $15 million a year in order to be in the best position to win not just this season but also you know two seasons from now, three seasons from now, that kind of thing as he continues to age. We’ll see what ultimately that looks like at the end of the day a little bit later on. Again, trade can’t be marked official until July 6th. Um so we’ll keep you posted for that. What What numbers would you be looking for in a KD extension? It’s a two-year extension. the max is like $121 million across two years. So about 60 million a year, give or take. Um what would you want to see KD sign for um with the Houston Rockets? Give me your thoughts there. And then the one that’s a little bit more curious that we haven’t seen much reporting on is Tari E. And it’s curious because we know that there’s, you know, locker room dynamics, politics at play here where Jabari and Tari were drafted in the same draft. And just like it took Jaylen and Shingun all off season, you know, until the literally the final day that they were extension eligible to come to terms on their extensions. And there was a lot of speculation, right? Okay, well Shingun deserves his extension. Let Jaylen go to RFA, right? Oh, but you can’t do that because, you know, then Jaylen’s going to have his feelings hurt and he’s going to be upset playing throughout the season if if Shingun gets his bag and he doesn’t get his and he has to like prove it, quote unquote. So now the Rockets are kind of in that exact same position because they’ve already given Jabari his 5year $122 million contract extension. So where does that leave Tari? You have to imagine that an offer has been made to Tar Een at this point with how quickly the Rockets have been moving with everybody else. And so the fact that there hasn’t been word on an extension for Tari E gives me a little bit of reason for concern that the Rockets are probably trying to play a little hard ball with Tari given his injury history um and how they’ve had to kind of load manage him a little bit. You know, I wonder if they’re trying to lowball him and get him at something like, you know, four years 60 million. So like you know about 15 million a season which would clock in you know almost you know it’s like $8 million less than what Jabari’s getting because Jabari’s average average annual value is clocked in at like 23 million a year for 5 years $122 million. So for Tari you know that is a a bargaining chip or a I guess a leverage chip for the Rockets front office and for Rafel Stone to use. And given what we saw and how he handled negotiations with both Shingun and Jaylen Green, um how he handled negotiations with KPJ back in the day, uh how he’s handled negotiations with every other contract since then, it wouldn’t shock me if Rafll Stone was attempting to get Tari Een on a super favorable deal with favorable terms because of his player history so far. even though the the injury that he had, you know, the surgery, the the leg tumor thing was such a freak incident. And and I don’t think by any stretch of the imagination that Tari E is, you know, injuryprone at all. But it’s just smart business by Stone in the front office to try and keep Tari on as cheap a contract as you possibly can when he’s, you know, he’s not projected to be one of your starters. He’s going to be reserve player, albeit a very important reserve player. It feels like the real sweet spot for Tari E is going to be like four years 70 million, four years 80 million, like somewhere in that somewhere in the ballpark of that 15 to20 million a year range with, you know, it being closer to the 18 1920 range is probably more what Tari actually deserves. Whereas like the 15, 16, 17 range is probably more so like Stone trying to get like a really good deal in place for Tari E. And my biggest concern at this point is if Stone plays hard ball too much with Tari, right? If they can’t come to terms on extension and Tari just rolls into this next year as a restricted free agent. Um, first off, that would be not not like an indictment, but it’d be pretty damning if they can’t get a deal done and they were able to get a deal done so quickly with Jabari. There would maybe be some, not that either one of these guys would be, you know, frustrating in the locker room or anything like that, but I’m sure there would maybe be some hurt feelings if they weren’t able to get a deal done with Tari, one that Tari and his camp found amenable, right? One that he felt like he was worth. But because there’s going to be so many teams with cap space next off season, it worries me because if Tari goes into restricted free agency next summer, there are going to be teams that are likely going to try to offer Tari, you know, the same contract that Jabari got, you know, 25 million a year, maybe up to 30 million a year if they really want him to, you know, come and start for their team. Um, because he’s absolutely a starter caliber wing in today’s NBA. And that sucks. That’s the risk that the Rockets run by, you know, not figuring out a deal in the here and now. Um, and I wouldn’t, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for Tari to kind of bet on himself, right? If the Rockets were putting forth like an insultingly low offer of like 15 million a year on the table or something even lower than that, I don’t think it would be lower than that, but I’m just saying like I’m I’m purely hyp, you know, spitballing here. Um, that’s just kind of where things are probably at with the negotiations. That’s probably why we haven’t seen a a response yet is because they’re in the midst of these negotiations. The first offer that Stone probably put on the table for Tari at the same time that he put the offer down for Jabari, Tari and his camp probably looked at it and they were like, “We want more.” And so now they’re in this, you know, stalemate negotiating, whatever. And it might drag on for most of the offseason. Hopefully it doesn’t. Hopefully they’re able to strike up terms on a deal that that works for both sides. Um, but if they don’t, that’s the downside. That’s the potential uh worst case outcome is Tar getting to restricted free agency next summer and some team rolling along offering him the bag 2530 million a year something like that and then the Rockets are forced to choose. Do you lose Tari for nothing or do you match a contract where he’s getting paid even more than your other starting forward in Jabari Smith Jr.? That’s a tough It’s going to be a tough pill to swallow potentially down the line. Hopefully Refellstone and company are able to figure things out. Um, again, I’m in that sweet spot of like four years, 70 million, four years, 80 million is probably about where you want to be. Um, maybe not include, I mean, they could include that fifth year. I don’t know. What would you want Atari East extension to look like? Give me your thoughts in the YouTube comments. Coming up, we take a swing around the NBA landscape, taking a look at some of the other winners from this NBA offseason so far and a couple of the losers. We’ll get there in just one moment. and final segment here at Locked on Rockets, your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball. Right now, we’re going to talk a little something not Houston Rockets basketball. Um, and that’s taking a look at some of the other uh moves being made in NBA free agency, some of what some of the other teams have taken care of this off season. And I got to start with a couple of my leading contenders for like if I’ve got the rockets are flatout crushed this off seasonason, right? Trading for KD, resigning all their key players, you know, extending head coach Emodoka. Um adding DFS, adding Clint Capella, like TBD on what happens with Jock Landale and and and Cam Whitmore in any official capacity, whether they’re rolled into the existing KD trade or somehow, you know, I I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen with those two guys, but the Rockets off season more or less feels kind of complete at this point pending what happens with those two names with Jock and Cam, but they don’t really have much money if at all to go make another acquisition to go add another, you know, impact contributor. Maybe they can do like a vet minimum signing if they do just move off of Cam Whitmore completely um and they’d be able to stay under the uh first apron number but or the first apron line. But with all that, the two other teams that I have at the very top of like flat out just dominating this off seasonason so far, and I’ I’ve got these as a tossup. So, I want to know your thoughts on which team do you think has had a better off season so far, the Denver Nuggets or the Atlanta Hawks? Um, I’m torn between both of them. They’ve both had such great offseason. Let’s go through the Hawks really quickly. Um, the Hawks new look roster includes they’ve got they’ve still got Trey Young and they still got Dyson Daniels, Reese Shay, Jaylen Johnson, but they brought in Christophs Porzingis. They’re losing Capella obviously, but they brought in Christophs Porzingis pending Porzingis’ health. That is a really good starting five. Really like that starting five for Atlanta. You’ve basically outside of Trey Young, you’ve got length and good defenders and good shooting all around Trey, which is exactly what you want around Trey Young in a team. Then for their reserves, they’ve got Luke Canard, Nikquille Alexander Walker. They’ve still got Vit Cr, Kobe Buffkin. Um, and then in their front court, they’ve got Anaka Kongu, Asan Newwell, and Mohamed Gay. That is a really stacked up team. And they they still have a couple free agents out there. They might bring back Garrison Matthews. They might bring back Dominic Barlo. Um, they lost Larry Nance Jr. to the Cleveland Cavaliers. So, we’ll see what they ultimately decide to go do. maybe they make a move. Um, they’ve got a little bit of money left out of the non-t tax mid-level exception about $3 million. Um, they have the bianual exception worth $5 million and they’ve got some trade exceptions worth 11 13 11 and $13 million. So, they could still make some moves. Hawks might not be done yet, you know, fleshing out their roster, but they look really good. in an Eastern conference that has been decimated by injuries with Tyresese Hallebertton out with the Achilles, Jason Tatum out with the Achilles. Damen Lillard waved by the Bucks. What? And out with an Achilles, right? And the Bucks are the Bucks look like a dumpster fire. Um, and the Pacers losing milestone to the Bucks. Like the East is just this like wasteland of teams. And the Cavs will be okay. The Magic are making a significant push and the Hawks will be right there too. and the Knicks. Like, I think those are going to be your top four teams in the East next season. In some order, it’s going to be Cavs, uh, Knicks, Magic, Hawks. Hell, maybe in that order specifically next season. Um, because of just how bad everything else looks. And even like the Pistons, losing Malik Beasley to the gambling stuff, like that’s a significant blow to them. Um, so I I don’t think they’re going to exactly come back stronger or better this upcoming season. I don’t know. Uh, but I really like what the Hawks have done. Kudos to them. Uh, was really impressed with their draft night trade with the Pelicans, too. So, they’re not only do they have this exciting roster for next season. And again, health pending, even if Porzingis is hurt, like Onaka Congu is still a very capable starting quality big, you know, it’s just the team ceiling increases exponentially if you have Christoph Porzingis out there instead of Onaka Congu. And you can even play those two guys together at times to deal with some of the other bigger front courts in the NBA. So, a lot of versatility there for the Hawks. Um, the other team though that I want to give a lot of credit for some very savvy offseason moves, man. The Denver Nuggets. Damn, the Denver Nuggets are going to be good this next season. Like, it’s tough. It’s frustrating cuz that’s going to be like like it’s B. Like, you look at the state of the Western Conference right now. It is OKC, it is Houston, and it is Denver. and they are all one cut above the rest of the competition in the Western Conference. It’s like every other team has been sitting on their hands while OKC, Denver, or sorry, OKC Houston and Denver have been making their moves, bolstering their roster, doing this that and the other thing. Denver is going to be scary next season. They’ve effectively turned MPJ into Cameron Johnson and the ability to go out and sign Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr. basically turning Cameron B basically turning MPJ, Michael Porter Jr. into three quality rotation players. Um their starting lineup is now Jamal Murray, Christian Brown, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, Nola Joic. All players who, you know, thrive off of Joic. Cam Johnson is going to feast and get some of the easiest shots of his career playing off of Joic. Um and he’s going to be a better overall scoring option than MPJ was, not just a guy that launches threes. Then off the bench, they’ve still got a lot of their young guys that helped them this past season, but they also added Tim Hardway Jr., Bruce Brown. They’ve got Jaylen Picket. They’ve got Julian Strawther. They’ve still got Payton Watson, Hun Hunter Tyson, Dron Holmes, Zeke Naji. They also added Yonas Valenunis, a legitimate backup big for Joic so that they won’t just absolutely get decimated in the non Jokic minutes. And Valenunis is still a very serviceable big man. This Nuggets team is going to be scary and I don’t it doesn’t look like they’re planning to bring back Russell Westbrook which I will say I think is a bit of a mistake on their on their beha be behalf. I do think Russ was really beneficial at times for them. Kind of you know supercharged sub off the bench. Definitely had some great times starting for them last year. Kind of sucks that they didn’t look to just bring him back after the success that he did have with them this past season. But they also may just be done with the Russell Westbrook experience, right? like you know Russell Westbrook when he’s good he’s amazing and when he’s bad it can look really really really really really bad. So um seems like they’re moving on from there. They do still have the byanual exception it looks like although their projected salaries coming in at just like 2.9 million short of the first apron. Um and I don’t I don’t know if they’re first apron bound or if they can if they are able to go over the first apron. They can’t if they use the by- annual exception. Um, so maybe they’ll make, you know, one more move or something here or there, but the Nuggets are going to be flatout scary. Like the Nuggets actually have depth now, and that’s been their biggest weakness in the Jokic era is not having depth. Like literally, Joic gets off the floor and then they just lose the non- Jokic minutes. Now they might have enough depth to just even if they just keep the scoreboard the same in the non-kic minutes, they’re gonna be a problem next season. Um, I think one of the biggest losers of the off seasonason so far, the LA Lakers. Man, Lakers lost Dorian Finny Smith and they still haven’t secured a legitimate center to play alongside Luca and LeBron. And on top of all that, LeBron might not even be a Laker next season. like he’s open to finishing his career somewhere else because for whatever reason Rob Pelinka even though he’s got Luca and LeBron on the same roster right here right now is prioritizing the future around Luca Donuch which sounds kind of crazy but maybe it isn’t like I don’t know depending on what kind of return they can get for LeBron James like I’ve seen that I’ve seen this trade hypothetical way too much floating around is you know LeBron to Cleveland for Jared Allen and uh DeAndre Hunter and like I don’t know one more Dean Wade and and you know that’s it. You send LeBron and Bronny to Cleveland and he gets to retire with the Cavaliers. Um gets to chase one more title with them and you’d have a big you know a star-studded cast of LeBron Mobly Garland D uh uh not DaVon Mitchell. Uh why am I blanking on his name? Oh my god. Why am I blanking? It’s not DaVon Mitchell. Who which Mitchell is it? Anyways, Mitchell. Uh, oh, that’s gonna kill me. I gota I gotta look it up. I gotta look it up. Cavs. Why am I blanking on who this guy is? Donovan Mitchell. Oh my god, that was killing me. I was I was dying. I just could not remember Donovan’s first name. Anyways, I’ve seen that hypo hypothetical thrown around a lot. Apparently, there was a report out of Cleveland that like Cleveland has no interest in trading for LeBron James. So, there’s that. Uh, take that for what you will. But, the Lakers are in this really crappy spot. like they they don’t have a legitimate five on their roster, like a serviceable one that will actually play well alongside Luca and LeBron. And if LeBron is disgruntled and unhappy about his position and and and how good the Lakers roster actually is, you know, as far as competing for a title, then maybe they drag that drama into trading camp and and the Lakers very easily could experience some significant falloff this upcoming season. Even with two incredible floor raisers like LeBron and Luca, if LeBron’s unhappy, he might start sandbagging. He might force his way out. That might be a drama that chases him all season long. And then for Luca, TBD on what Luca ultimately looks like. There was one picture of him that showed up the other day where he looks incredibly skinny now, but offseason skinny Luca is the same thing as Ben Simmons hitting jumpers in the offseason. So, I’ll believe it when I see it in the actual regular season. Lakers feel like they have just lost consistently, right? Again, they they lost they lost out on getting Quint Capella. They might have to pivot to to DeAndre Aton. Um, they have lo they lost out on Brook Lopez. Like there’s I don’t know. They’re they’re in a really really rough spot across the board. And all they’ve picked up so far is Jake Loravia. That’s it. Um, other team that is kind of looking like they’re going to be screwed is the Bucks. like their only good move so far of the offseason was to bring in Miles Turner and essentially just poaching Miles Turner away from the Indiana Pacers, which might have just been more an FU to Indiana than anything else because they waved Damen Lillard and stretched his remaining contract over five seasons, a 20some million dollar cap hit over five seasons for Damen Lillard. Their starting back court is going to be Kevin Porter Jr. Gary Trent Jr. They’re planning on probably starting KPJ at this point. And that should tell you all you need to know about the state of the Milwaukee Bucks. Two of their starting five players are going to be KPJ and Kyle Kosma. I don’t think Milwaukee is doing anything next year. And I think it’s only a matter of time before Giannis takes a look around him at the dumpster fire and says, “Get me the hell out of here.” Um, yeah, Milwaukeeke’s looking really rough. Uh, and then I will say, uh, two more teams that I really actually like what they did. Uh, in addition to Denver and Atlanta, love what the Magic did going all in on Desmond Bane. I love that pickup for them. I think they’re going to have a fantastic season. And again, I think they’ll be one of the teams right there at the top um of the at the top of the Eastern Conference given how open things seem over there right now. Um and then uh the other team, the Knicks. Uh so yeah, the Magic have done a good job so far with their with their off seasonason, I think. And then the Knicks getting Jordan Clarkson and uh uh Yabusle from from the 76ers. Knicks have basically added depth. They didn’t change. They didn’t do any crazy moves. They didn’t trade anybody, but they’ve added two really massive depth pieces in addition to keeping everything else in place. Um, and that’s going to pay dividends for whoever comes in to coach the Knicks next because depth has been the deciding factor for a lot of these teams this past season, right? The deepest teams go the furthest in the playoffs. And so that’s depth is becoming more important than ever for these teams as they battle these 82 game regular seasons and as they battle trying to get through multiple rounds of, you know, hardcore playoff intensity basketball. Um, we’re seeing the injuries pile up on star players and whatnot. And so having a roster that you can rely on to keep guys fresh, to keep guys uh injuryfree as as much as possible until you get to the postseason is going to be really really huge. So, really like the Knicks additions, really like the Magic. Um, obviously like the Rockets and the and the Nuggets and the Hawks. But I want your thoughts on who’s impressed you so far this off seasonason with their moves. Who are you looking at as offseason kind of losers so far to this point? Give me your thoughts in the YouTube comments. Give me your thoughts on the extensions for Atari and KD as well as the Cam Whitmore situation. All that good stuff. But as always, thank you so much for checking out the show. Remember, the best way to help us grow the show is to listen every single day on a podcast platform of your choosing and then like, comment, subscribe on YouTube. But as always, thank you so much for watching. Thank you so much for listening and we look forward to having you back right here at Locked On Rockets, your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball.

REPORT: Rockets & Cam Whitmore Preparing To PART WAYS | Will Houston REGRET Letting Him Go?

Houston Rockets face crucial decisions as trade rumors swirl around Cam Whitmore. Is the young prospect’s future with the team in jeopardy?

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) analyzes the Rockets’ potential roster moves, including Whitmore’s situation and possible contract extensions for Kevin Durant and Tari Eason. The discussion covers the implications of these decisions on the team’s strategy and financial flexibility. Gatlin also breaks down the NBA’s offseason winners and losers, highlighting the Denver Nuggets’ impressive moves and the Los Angeles Lakers’ questionable decisions.

Tune in for expert insights on how these roster shakeups could reshape the Rockets’ path to success and impact the broader NBA landscape.

#Rockets #NBA #CamWhitmore

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