$678K Two-Way Puts Cam Whitmore in Denver

Photo: NBA.com. Official Cam Whitmore headshot.

Denver signed Cam Whitmore to a one-year fully guaranteed two-way contract, locking the 2023 No. 20 pick into the Nuggets' last open two-way seat.

Whitmore will earn $678,882, half the rookie minimum, with a $0 cap hit for Denver, while Cleveland still owes his fully guaranteed $5.46 million from the prior deal under a waive-and-stretch that carries about $1.82 million in dead cap for each of the next three seasons.

The math is why a first-round wing landed on a two-way instead of a standard minimum. A standard seat would have taxed a Nuggets sheet already managing apron heat after the Peyton Watson sign-and-trade path that funneled Whitmore through Washington and Cleveland as a bookkeeping piece. Cleveland waived him before he played a game there. Denver waited, then took the $0-hit lane. Grand Rapids Gold amplified the roster note Tuesday: Denver has signed Cam Whitmore to a two-way. KJ Simpson and Bryce Hopkins already hold the other two seats. Whitmore fills the third and final slot.

Watch the first closeout when Jokic swings it. Whitmore's career line sits at 10.5 points and 3.3 rebounds across 119 games, per Shams Charania. The Houston peak was louder — 12.3 points as a rookie on the Rockets sheet. The Washington year stopped at 21 games after a blood clot in his right shoulder shut him down. That health file is the real gate on this deal, not the salary. Two-way rules cap him at 50 regular-season NBA games. He is playoff-ineligible unless Denver promotes him onto the 15-man roster. Last season the Nuggets did that with Spencer Jones. They enter camp with room to make the same call again if the minutes stick.

This is also Whitmore's final year of two-way eligibility. Finish the season on the deal and July 2027 opens as unrestricted free agency. That calendar changes how both sides treat December and March. Denver can sample the burst without burning a standard slot. Whitmore can rebuild a tape next to the best passer in the league without waiting for a thin free-agent market to invent a standard offer. He was already working out in Denver before the filing hit NBA.com's transaction log on September 18, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania and The Denver Post.

The floor job is scoring gravity on a thin wing board. Denver spent the summer trimming cost around Nikola Jokic. Whitmore does not fix the defensive help string by himself. He does give David Adelman's staff a 6-foot-7 attacker who can finish above the rim when the pocket pass arrives early. Put that next to Murray's drive-and-kick and the catch angle changes on the weak side. The risk is the same one Houston and Washington already priced: effort on the first side, shot selection when the three is cold, and whether the shoulder holds through an 82-game shuttle between Ball Arena and Grand Rapids.

Fifty games is the hard ceiling until a promotion. The $678,882 is the two-way paycheck. The $5.46 million is still Cleveland's check. The $0 cap hit is Denver's entire reason for using the last two-way on a former lottery wing instead of another undrafted flyer. If Whitmore eats the 50 and forces the conversion decision before April, the signing stops being a G League stash and becomes the cheapest upgrade on a contender's wing chart. If he doesn't, Denver spent nothing it couldn't afford and still kept the seat warm with Simpson and Hopkins beside him.

Sources

• Hoops Rumors / Luke Adams. Nuggets sign Cam Whitmore to two-way; Shams; NBA.com transaction log Sep 18, 2026; $678,882; $5.46MM from Cleveland; 50-game max; final two-way year; UFA July 2027; KJ Simpson + Bryce Hopkins.
• Hoops Rumors — Cavaliers waive. Stretch on $5,458,310 → ~$1,819,437 dead cap x 3.
• Spotrac Cam Whitmore. Prior $5,458,310; CLE dead money $1,819,437 (2026-27–2028-29).
• Hoops Rumors 2026/27 two-way tracker. $678,882 = half rookie minimum; max 50 RS games.
• Career: 119 GP, 10.5 PPG / 3.3 RPG (Shams); Wizards blood clot limited to 21 games; Peyton Watson multi-team path.
• Grand Rapids Gold Instagram (Sep 22, 2026): roster news amplifying signing.
• Photo: NBA.com headshot 1641715 — https://cdn.nba.com/headshots/nba/latest/1040x760/1641715.png