Toumani Camara has become an iron man for the Portland Trail Blazers. He has a legitimate shot of finishing the season having played every game, suiting up in all 76 contests to date. Only a handful of players can say the same. And the best part is, Camara played in 78 games last season, suggesting his reliable availability is here to stay.
Making this even more impressive is the fact that Camara has covered the most ground in the entire league this season, totaling 200 miles traveled. Only Mikal Bridges, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Amen Thompson even come close to that number.
Camara is constantly fighting through screens, picking up ball handlers the length of the court, essentially doing all the intangibles for Portland. That already goes underappreciated, but the fact that he does it on a nightly basis without missing games makes him invaluable to this Blazers roster.
Toumani Camara's durability makes his extension look even better for Portland
That's why it was wise for general manager Joe Cronin to extend Camara prior to the season. Portland signed Camara to a four-year, $82 million deal. Signing him to that lucrative deal shows the extent to which they stole the former-second-round pick from the trade with the Phoenix Suns. Reaching that new deal was doubling down on that investment.
Camara's numbers this year compared to last are similar, and he's arguably even taken a step back from last season's smothering defense that resulted in an All-Defense selection. But that's the great thing about this investment: any development he has from here on out is just a bonus. And it's likely to come, considering he's just in his third season. He's still transitioning to playing more of the wing at the NBA level than he did in college, where he played the four or even the five at times.
Say Camara does plateau as a player, and the concerns regarding his ceiling entering the draft as an older prospect come to fruition. Even in that worst-case scenario, Portland still has a building block on its hands worth keeping around.
Camara is the exact type of elite complementary piece every contender needs. Someone who can provide a two-way impact without needing to drop 20 points a night. Better yet, someone who can do so while playing the vast majority of games.
This season hasn't gone according to plan for Portland as they've been one of the most injured teams in the league. But Camara has been the bright spot, filling in the gaps where needed. That type of reliability can't be overstated, and it's yet another reason why Camara has a case to be considered Portland's most important player.