Special Guest Drops by Brooklyn Basketball Summer Camp

This season, Whitehead finally had an extended opportunity to flash the potential that once made him the National High School Player of the Year and MVP of the McDonald's All-American Game.

After undergoing two lower-body surgeries since his time at Duke, Whitehead appeared in just two games as a rookie before a stress fracture on his shin cut his season short. However, the former first-round pick earned some valuable playing experience this season, even scoring a career-high 18 points while connecting on six three-pointers, shooting 54.5% from the field and 60% from three-point range. He appeared in 20 games this year, averaging 5.7 points and 1.5 rebounds per game while shooting 40.6% from the field and 44.6% from beyond the arc.

As he went about his recovery process and return to NBA action, Whitehead also spent time with Brooklyn's G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets. While appearing in 17 G League games last season, Whitehead averaged 12.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 40,1% from the field and 37.6% from beyond the arc. His best game in the G League came against the Osceola Magic, when he scored a career-high 30 points while hitting the game's winning shot with just four seconds left on the clock.

Heading into this summer, it was a bit of a surprise that Whitehead did not suit up with Brooklyn during the Las Vegas Summer League. However, the Duke product told the New York Post's Bryan Lewis that his agent and Nets general manager Sean Marks agreed that it'd be best if he took a different approach toward his first recent summer with a clean slate of health.

“Obviously at the end of last season I was getting ready to prepare for summer league,” Whitehead mentioned. “It was just something that I guess my agent talked to Sean about and they were [thinking] more so get my body ready and prepare for training camp and next season.”