Can Toumani Camara become one of the best two-way wings in the NBA?
Toumani Camara broke out for the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night against the Brooklyn Nets, finishing with a career-high 35 points. The vast majority of that damage came from beyond the arc, as the standout two-way wing knocked down 9 of his 11 three-point attempts.
These are the types of games that give you a glimpse of just how good he could be.
An underrated player coming out of college as an older prospect, the now 25-year-old has become a legitimate core piece of this Trail Blazers rebuild and their rise toward becoming a postseason team this year and, hopefully, a contender in the years ahead.
At 6-foot-7, Camara has long been known for being one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, even when matched up against premier scorers like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and others. He has proven to be highly effective with his length, lateral movement, and ability to contest shots. He's already a phenomenal defender, but when you see games like this on the offensive end, it really starts to make you wonder what his ceiling could be.
Camara is a career 35.7% three-point shooter, so the long-range shot has always been part of his game. Still, he has only averaged around four three-point attempts per game over the course of his three NBA seasons. Monday night against Brooklyn was obviously an outlier in terms of both volume and efficiency, but it still showed something important.
It showed what he could become.
He is not normally the focal point of Portland’s offense. Deni Avdija has taken on a major role in that area this year. Donovan Clingan has had breakout moments. Jerami Grant has carried offensive responsibility. Camara has been a very good piece all season, but more as a tertiary scorer, averaging a career-high 12.7 points per game while continuing to improve offensively year by year.
This, though, felt different.
This was a true breakout performance, and if the Blazers are serious about becoming a contender next year or the year after, Camara continuing to make strides is going to be extremely important. The same goes for players like Clingan and even Avdija, who made his first All-Star team this season, continuing to take more leaps of their own.
That is often how development works with younger players. You see flashes early. Then those flashes start showing up more often. And eventually, that is when you really begin to understand what a player’s ceiling might be.
No one expects Camara to go 9-for-11 from three every night. But if he can become more comfortable taking threes at real volume, and if he can eventually get to the point where he is taking eight or nine a game and making even 40% of them, then paired with his defense, he starts to look like one of the best two-way wings in the entire NBA.
It was a promising night for Camara on Monday, and one the Blazers have to hope is a sign of more growth still to come, both this season and beyond.