In a tradition as old as time, a young NBA player with experience finds their way to something between near availability and outright availability on the open market, and that player becomes a central focus of Chicago Bulls fans and media banter for some indiscriminate time until, hopefully, the national nightmare resolves itself or Bulls front-office decision-makers do the deed.
The NBA player to spotlight in this scenario is thankfully not Jonathan Kuminga - high-five to the Minnesota Timberwolves - and is also not Bennedict Mathurin - you’re awesome, New Orleans Pelicans!
Free agent wing Cameron Whitmore is the player to spotlight here. The optics of Whitmore’s age (21) and cheap availability, courtesy of being waived from a rookie-scale contract, have shot Whitmore straight to the top of the “let’s give this young NBA player a Bulls roster spot” charts.
Whitmore’s three-year career is more than enough of a sample size to arrive at a conclusion that the Chicago Bulls should do anything but sign Cam Whitmore to a Bulls contract, because he lacks any real NBA upside.
There’s a case to be made that the Bulls would do better to leave their 15th roster spot open until the 2027 NBA trade deadline and then figure out what their next roster move should be.
However, if the Bulls can’t shake a strong hankering for rostering another young player with experience, then a better alternative would be for the Bulls front office briantrust to hammer out a deal to acquire Memphis Grizzlies forward GG Jackson II via trade.
Tale of the Tape
Jackson II and Whitmore are both age 21 and entered the league from the same 2023 NBA Draft class. However, Jackson II has a height advantage over Whitmore at 6’9”, while Whitmore is 6’6”. Statistically speaking, both players are largely identical, yet there are few marginal benefits to the Bulls acquiring Jackson II over signing Whitmore as a free agent.
Comparing both players over the span of their first three NBA seasons, Jackson II (9.1%) holds a higher assist rate than Whitmore (7.3%), according to Sports Reference. Jackson II has also proven to be the better offensive contributor from the free-throw line compared to Whitmore.
Jackson II, over the course of his entire NBA career, has posted a 74.4% free-throw percentage on 4.3 free-throw attempts per 36 minutes, while Whitmore’s NBA career performance from the charity stripe clocks in at a 71.2% free-throw percentage on 3.8 free-throws per 36 minutes.
GG Jackson II’s upside thesis
Perhaps the most pertinent upside case to be made for the Bulls acquiring Jackson II over Whitmore as a “flyer” player is due to Jackson II’s 28-game stretch as a Grizzlies starter during the 2025-26 NBA season, in which he was able to realize a nice bump in his offensive contributions in both scoring (16 points per game) and shooting efficiency (60.9% true shooting) compared to his reserve numbers in 27 games - 8.9 points per game and 56.0% true shooting.
If the Bulls were to actually realize roster upside through a flyer-type player, it’s more advantageous for that upside to come from a legitimate frontcourt player like GG Jackson II, who can be a long-term player in a shallow Bulls frontcourt depth chart, compared to Whitmore, whose minutes would create distribution decisions amongst Bulls players like Matas Buzelis, Caleb Wilson, and to a lesser extent Dailyn Swain.
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