Cam Whitmore is 22 years old, has already played for three teams in four professional seasons, and nearly had a blood clot take all of it away from him. Now the forward is fighting for the Denver Nuggets' open 15th roster spot on a two-way contract, a chance that exists only because he survived a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis that doctors discovered while he was with the Washington Wizards last December.
A Shootaround That Changed Everything
Whitmore noticed soreness in his shoulder before anything was confirmed, and the warning sign turned alarming during a Wizards shootaround on December 20, 2025, according to The Denver Post. He was treated at a hospital in Washington, D.C. during the holidays, and doctors ultimately diagnosed deep vein thrombosis, ending his third NBA season early. The Wizards had already announced that Whitmore would miss the remainder of the year, with the team saying at the time, “The Washington Wizards announced that forward Cam Whitmore will miss the remainder of the season,” according to CBS Sports. He finished that season having appeared in just 21 games, averaging 9.2 points and 2.8 rebounds while shooting 45.6% from the field, per the same report.
Doctors found that blood flow to Whitmore's right arm was being restricted by his ribs, which led to a six-hour surgery to remove one of them, the Post reports. His mother, Colleen Whitmore, confirmed the length of the procedure, and she also described a complication along the way: the family's blood tests were lost and had to be repeated, delaying results by about six weeks. After getting those results, Whitmore was barred from basketball activity for multiple months.
Needles, Therapy Balls And A Long Road Back
During his recovery, Colleen Whitmore gave her son blood-thinner injections every 12 hours, the Post reports. His return-to-play process was gradual and unglamorous, built around therapy-ball exercises, treadmill walking and close-range layups before he worked back up to full-contact basketball. Whitmore was cleared for contact around late May, according to the same account.
Deep vein thrombosis isn't limited to the legs most people associate with the condition. Athletes who perform repeated overhead motions — think basketball players, swimmers and pitchers — can develop clots in their shoulders and arms too, according to UT Southwestern Medical Center. Professional athletes can carry additional risk factors, including dehydration, above-average height and long stretches of sitting during travel between games, the medical center notes. Left untreated, a clot can break free and travel to the lungs, causing a pulmonary embolism that CBS Sports describes as potentially life-threatening. Treatment usually centers on blood thinners to stop existing clots from growing and prevent new ones from forming, per UT Southwestern, though the same medications make contact sports like basketball unsafe until a patient is cleared — any impact carries a risk of life-threatening bleeding in the brain.
From Cleveland Trade To A Two-Way Deal In Denver
Whitmore's path to Denver wound through more than just his medical scare. He was drafted No. 20 overall and played for the Houston Rockets before being dealt to Washington. He was later traded from Washington to Cleveland in a transaction connected to the Peyton Watson sign-and-trade, and the Cavaliers subsequently waived him. He ultimately signed a two-way contract with the Nuggets in September, according to Yahoo Sports.
That deal caps him at 50 regular-season NBA games and makes him ineligible for the playoffs unless Denver converts him to a standard contract, Yahoo Sports reports. The Nuggets' 15th standard roster spot remains open, according to DenverSports.com, and the team plans to keep it that way as opening night approaches while it evaluates whether Whitmore can earn it. Denver hopes to develop him into a versatile role player, and he posed for team media day at Ball Arena on September 28.
Early Preseason Flashes — And What's Still Missing
Whitmore has shown scoring flashes in preseason, including a 17-point outing, and through four preseason games he was averaging 10.3 points in just under 16 minutes per contest, shooting 47.2% from the field and 71.4% from the free-throw line, per Yahoo Sports. He played preseason games in Boulder on October 4 and in Salt Lake City on October 6. But the same report notes his limited playmaking and inconsistent outside shooting remain areas to improve, and a separate Yahoo Sports piece identified defense as the primary hurdle, stating plainly, “Mostly, his defense needs to improve.”
Nuggets coach David Adelman has echoed that assessment, saying Whitmore needs to learn team defense and play off the ball with the first unit. Still, Adelman said he believes Whitmore has a new opportunity and merits patience. Forward Aaron Gordon has also weighed in, saying Whitmore is talented and could be a good addition. Yahoo Sports described his athleticism and ability to score in bunches as a potential boost to Denver's bench.
Whitmore Isn't The Only NBA Player To Face This
Whitmore's family leaned on his history of bouncing back from physical setbacks. He fractured his left tibia as a high-school freshman, fractured the same bone again attempting to return months later, missed half his junior season because of the pandemic, and missed the first month of his lone Villanova season with a torn thumb ligament. He later had “Godspeed” tattooed on his left leg as a reminder of that high-school injury. His father, Myron Whitmore, said he tried to give his son examples of people who overcame similar injuries.
He's not without company among NBA players who've dealt with blood clots. San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama was diagnosed with DVT in his right shoulder in February 2025 and missed the rest of that season, per UT Southwestern, before later announcing, “I'm officially cleared to return… I'll finally be able to play a bit of basketball again,” according to NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. Other players have returned to the court after blood clots too, including Anderson Varejao in 2013, Brandon Ingram in 2019, Christian Koloko in 2023 and Ausar Thompson in 2024, per UT Southwestern's medical blog. Thompson was sidelined for the final month of his rookie season and the first month of the following one, CBS Sports reports, while Damian Lillard missed time after a clot was found in his calf. Not everyone has been as fortunate — Chris Bosh's career ended after 13 seasons because of blood-clot issues, according to UT Southwestern.
