The rest of the NBA is starting to see what Trail Blazers fans have known for a while: Toumani Camara is a problem.
Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley recently put together a list of the league’s 10 most underrated players, and Camara checked in at No. 8.
The full ranking went: No. 10 Cam Spencer of the Memphis Grizzlies, No.
9 Cason Wallace of the Oklahoma City Thunder, No. 8 Toumani Camara of the Portland Trail Blazers, No.
7 Paul Reed of the Detroit Pistons, No. 6 Naji Marshall of the Dallas Mavericks, No.
5 Miles McBride of the New York Knicks, No. 4 Ty Jerome of the Memphis Grizzlies, No.
3 Ryan Rollins of the Milwaukee Bucks, No. 2 Nickeil Alexander-Walker of the Atlanta Hawks and No.
1 Neemias Queta of the Boston Celtics.
That placement feels right. Camara fits the exact mold contenders love: a player who doesn’t need the ball to swing winning possessions. He’s the kind of fourth- or fifth-best piece championship teams lean on, and that makes him especially important for Portland as it sorts out what this roster is going to become.
The defensive résumé is already strong. Buckley pointed to Camara’s All-Defensive Second Team nod in 2024-25, his 91st percentile ranking in defensive estimated plus/minus this season and, of course, the NBA’s single-season record for offensive fouls drawn.
That alone would make him valuable. But the part that keeps pushing Camara into underrated territory is what he’s doing on offense.
His scoring has climbed every season since he entered the league, and he’s grown into a legitimate 3-and-D option for Portland after shooting 37 percent from beyond the arc over the last two years. The next step is obvious: more consistent shooting.
His numbers tell the story of that streakiness. In Blazers losses this past season, he shot 33.4 percent from deep; in wins, that number jumped to 40.6 percent.
That gap also says plenty about how much he matters to Portland. Camara has become the X-Factor, even if that doesn’t always register to people who aren’t watching him every night.
His value isn’t limited to scoring and defense, either. His playmaking and availability might be the two most overlooked parts of his game.
That matters when you remember where he came from. In college, he mostly played power forward and center, which helped explain why he lasted until No. 52 overall in 2023.
There were real questions about how a 6-foot-7 big would translate.
Instead, Camara has turned that background into an advantage. He’s grown into a much more versatile wing than anyone projected, and he’s adding more to his offensive package as he goes. He’s no longer just a 3-and-D piece; he’s becoming someone who can create for himself and for others.
And then there’s the reliability. Camara played 78 games in 2024-25, then followed that up by appearing in every game last year. He did it while finishing fourth in total minutes and taking on the toughest defensive assignments night after night.
Blazers fans saw the signs early after he arrived from Phoenix. Now the league is catching up. Even so, this ranking makes the bigger point clear: Camara is still underrated for how much he actually drives for Portland.
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