Toumani Camara 'doesn’t give up': What opponents see in Trail Blazers' young defender

PORTLAND, Ore. — Tyrese Maxey stopped the question before it was finished, a wide smile accompanying his interjection.

“Before you even get going, let me tell you about tonight …” Maxey said.

The question was about Portland Trail Blazers forward Toumani Camara and his defensive prowess. Maxey, the point guard for the Philadelphia 76ers, had just spent a night being guarded by Camara, and the experience left an impression.

And it started before the opening tip.

“What did he say … it was like, ‘Hey, can you play if I pick you up fullcourt?’” Maxey said, wide-eyed.

Camara’s question was so brash, so bold and so unexpected that Maxey couldn’t help but chuckle. After all, this was Camara — a second-round draft pick in his second season — talking to an All-Star.

But sure enough, there was the 6-foot-6 Camara throughout the night, hounding the jitterbug point guard up and down the court. And, even though Maxey scored 23 points in the 76ers’ 22-point win, the most memorable aspect of the night for Maxey was the man shadowing him.

“The ball would go through the net, and he would try to deny me and pick me up … the whole game,” Maxey said. “Someone who is that size, and who can pick up fullcourt, and is that relentless? Kudos to him, man. That’s not an easy task.”

The scene with Maxey is one from a collection of opponents interviewed by The Athletic over the past month about Camara and his defense. The responses were as varied as they were telling. Brooklyn’s Ben Simmons detailed a mini-confrontation. Denver’s Jamal Murray sat silent, stewing for several seconds, before begrudgingly giving an answer. San Antonio’s Jeremy Sochan couldn’t contain his admiration. And the Clippers’ Norman Powell was still trying to figure out how Camara came out of nowhere to block his dunk attempt.

That opponents are even talking about Camara, let alone applauding his skills, might have seemed far-fetched two years ago. In 2023, Phoenix drafted him out of Dayton with the 52nd overall pick, and three months later — after a standout Summer League — he was a much-negotiated piece of a trade that helped the Blazers acquire Deandre Ayton.

Now, those around the league paint a portrait of one of the NBA’s up-and-coming defenders, one that is so convincing that Maxey said he went as far as to playfully risk tampering that December night in Portland.

It was late in the game, long after Camara boldly asked Maxey if he was ready for a full night of 94 feet of pressure, when the two had another exchange.

“There was a moment where I thought he was complaining to the ref about me,” Camara remembered. “So, I went up to him, and I asked him, ‘Oh, are you complaining about (my defense)?’”

Maxey assured him that was not the case.

“I told him, ‘Nah. You can come play with us any time you want … you can come do this on our team any time you want,’” Maxey said. “I was messing with him, like, ‘Look at you — playing fullcourt all game. You can come play with us any time.’”

Before the Brooklyn Nets arrived in Portland, Ben Simmons said Camara was already on his radar because he noticed Camara led the NBA in charges drawn (19 as of Sunday).

“When you hear about somebody taking charges, you typically know they are a good defender and have good sense, so I was aware of that,” said Simmons, who has twice been voted to the NBA All-Defensive team.

But it wasn’t until the first half when Simmons discovered there is more to Camara’s game than drawing charges. He also has developed some tricks of the trade.

While lined up next to each other during a free throw, Camara grabbed the wrist of Simmons. It irritated the nine-year veteran, who immediately gave Camara a shove.

“It was one of those things where he was trying to get under my skin and bother me … and he did a little bit,” Simmons said. “But I also know the game. I know that’s something I would do. So, I liked that. I like someone who is going to take that challenge against an older player like myself and try to frustrate me.”

Camara said grabbing Simmons’ wrist was a calculated move.

“As a grown man, nobody likes being grabbed or having someone be physical and stuff like that, but as a defender, it’s something you have to do sometimes,” Camara said. “I saw that he was frustrated … and I have to take advantage of those moments.”

Simmons joined a growing list of players Camara has upset throughout his season and a half. Off the court, Camara is polite, gentle, smiles easily and mostly keeps to himself. But on the court, he is stone-faced and turns into an irritant.

Simmons said he took note of the Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation.

“When we came down later for another free throw, I saw that he is nice guy,” Simmons said. “He said, ‘Yo! You didn’t have to shove me!’ And I said, ‘You didn’t have to grab me.’ We both had a laugh about it. He seems like a really good kid.”

Against the Nets, Camara had 23 points, two blocks, two steals and a drawn charge. Although the Blazers lost by 18, the Nets took notice.

“The one thing I can say is he plays extremely hard every possession and that  … coaches, we can tell,” Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said. “He picks up full court, uses his legs, embraces defense, and that’s a superpower. I don’t know the kid, but I think he has that superpower of embracing defense.”

Maxey said he puts Camara’s defense in the same category as Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels and Minnesota’s Jaden McDaniels.

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“Those are the type of guys where the league is going — guys who can guard multiple positions and do it well,” Maxey said.

Simmons, who finished second in voting for Defensive Player of the Year after the 2020-21 season, said he welcomes seeing a young player value defense.

“You’ve gotta want to be one of those guys. You gotta want to take the challenge every night, and he has been doing that,” Simmons said. “I think that is one thing the game misses a lot — guys who want to play defense and guard. So, when we see those guys who take those challenges? A lot of respect to them. Because it’s not easy.”

Clippers guard Norman Powell was at the top of the 3-point arc when he saw nothing but space. The Blazers’ defense, clogged by a screen from LA center Ivica Zubac, had rolled out a red-carpet runway for an uncontested dunk.

Or so Powell thought.

As Powell bee-lined toward the basket and gathered himself for a tomahawk dunk, he experienced one of the defensive traits that makes Camara stand out.

“He doesn’t give up,” Powell said.

When Powell started his acceleration at the top of the 3-point arc and headed toward the basket, Camara was guarding James Harden out by the 3-point line on the left wing, well out of the picture.

As Zubac erased Shaedon Sharpe with a screen, and Deandre Ayton was unable to react in time, Powell was thinking highlight reel. Instead, he was on the wrong end of the highlight: Camara came all the way from the 3-point line on the weakside to meet Powell at the rim and block his shot.

“It was almost an impossible play for him to make, in terms of where he came from to go after it,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. “Most people would just watch that play and take it out and run down (the court) … except for Toumani.”

Billups noted that not only did Camara close ground, he had the gumption to challenge the dunk, and then execute the rejection.

“Most people are scared to get dunked on,” Billups said. “Except him. It was a courageous play, and just an incredible effort. But that’s who he is, and what we’ve come to depend on.”

Powell, who played for the Blazers, said he heard of Camara’s defense through texting with Blazers guard Anfernee Simons and catching the Blazers on League Pass.

“I still watch them from afar, and when he got here, I thought he had a lot of potential because of his body frame,” Powell said. “And yeah … he plays hard. He came weakside and blocked that dunk …”

As he re-lived the play, he shook his head and chuckled in disbelief.

“Next time, I will have to quick-dunk on him,” Powell said. “I gathered and went off two (feet), I should have went off one. But he just doesn’t give up, he’s always making a second, a third effort — and that’s what you love to see out of young guys.”

Powell said Camara’s dedication to defense reminded him of his own start in Toronto, when he had to carve out a defensive niche on a team with noted scorers DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry.

“A lot of guys want to come into the league and want to score, and have their name in the paper and articles written. But a lot of teams already have their guys for that role,” Powell said. “When I came in, I knew I had to play defense, even though I probably didn’t — I wanted to score. But that was the road given to me, and same with him. He’s embraced it, and he’s doing a great job.”

Jamal Murray sat in front of his locker, and listened to a question about Camara.

“Who?” he asked. “Are you talking about No. 33?”

He was seething, his Nuggets having just lost to the Blazers 126-124, in part because of Camara’s 14 points, eight rebounds, three steals and charges drawn against Nikola Jokić and Michael Porter Jr. Throughout the night, Camara guarded everyone from Murray at point guard to Jokić at center.

When the question continued, asking what makes Camara an effective defender, Murray sat in silence, mulling an answer for one, two … four … five seconds.

“I think I’m too competitive to answer that question,” Murray said.

Murray had 24 points and 10 assists, so it wasn’t like he was taken out of the game, but it was also clear the man he knew only by number and not name had left some kind of imprint. Eventually, he answered what he thought made Camara unique.

“How old is he? Is this like his second year?” Murray asked. “Yeah, I think he is going to be solid, man. He reminds me of (Matisse) Thybulle — same kind of length, same kind of speed. He gets into your stuff, and he just tries to make it hard for you all game.”

If Murray wasn’t sure about the specifics on Camara, the Nuggets’ coaching staff was. Assistant coach David Adelman said Camara’s physicality and activity practically jumped off the videotape.

“He is extremely, extremely impressive,” Adelman said. “I think in today’s NBA, with positionless basketball, he has the ability to actually guard (point guard) through (center) and do it at a really high level.”

Adelman said he noticed a difference in Camara as he watched film on the Blazers near the end of his rookie season last year.

“He really started to stand out in a lot of different ways, and you can tell their coaching staff started trusting him to do things that usually you save for veteran defensive players, by allowing him to be creative out there and use all of his attributes,” Adelman said. “You could see him getting his confidence.”

Billups acknowledged that midway through last season he started giving more rein to Camara, allowing him to gamble and play off instinct while also expanding the breadth of his assignments. What had been a mostly on-ball assignments began to extend to guarding players like Jokić, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant and LeBron James.

“We had to diversify him,” Billups said. “Even though he is so special on the ball, there were nights where the point guard isn’t the guy I wanted to impact. So, I told him, ‘I want you to be able to guard everybody, not just point guards.’ He wasn’t happy about it. I was making him relieve the pressure on the ball, but on some nights I needed him to take somebody else out of the game for us. A lot of defenders out there have a speciality in guarding a certain position .. I don’t want that for him. He’s so much better than that.”

Another key moment in Camara’s emergence as a defender happened behind the scenes: Before games last season, Billups said he would meet with the referees and educate them on Camara’s defensive skills.

“Last year, the refs were calling so many fouls on him … so many,” Billups said. “So, I went up to them and said, ‘This is going to be one of the best defenders in the league in a very short amount of time. You all have to get used to him, just like he has to get used to you all.’ And, 30-40 games in, they started to call less fouls.”

So much so that Adelman said part of the Nuggets’ scouting report on Camara involves the officials.

“We tell our guys don’t expect a call,” Adelman said. “The refs are not going to call everything, and (Camara) is one of those guys that’s going to toe that line a little bit. But again, that’s how the league is and has always been like that. If you foul every play, they won’t call it every time. That’s not to say he’s doing that, but he definitely plays with a physical mindset up and down the court.”

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It was the same mindset that Simmons admittedly said got under his skin, and he is not alone. Luka Dončić, Devin Booker and others have taken exception with Camara’s physicality. And other players around the league have noticed.

“He’s a dog, for real!” Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan said. “I just love the way he picks up full court. He doesn’t give a f— who he is guarding. He just wants to play defense, and you don’t really see that often here in the NBA anymore.”

When told that Camara’s approach has irritated players, Sochan lit up.

“Good! Good! Good! One of the things you want to do is play mind games, like he does,” Sochan said. “And if they get pissed at you? Then you are doing the right job and doing it well. I’m proud of him. He makes me hungry to become a better defender, too.”

Added Nets’ sharp-shooter Cam Johnson:  “What he does will keep him in this league a very long time, and will make him a lot of money. He is a good piece, that’s for sure.”

Camara says he is more than just a defensive player — he has increased his scoring average from 7.5 points to 10 points this season after a 24-point, nine-rebound outing against Oklahoma City on Sunday — but adds that he will never forget or abandon what has cemented his place in the league.

“This is an offensive league, but I feel like defense is 50 percent of the game, and a lot of people forget that,” Camara said. “And with today’s game changing, with all the 3s, I feel like defense can become even more important.”

So, he will continue to grab, to bump, and to not give a damn who is in front of him. If you don’t know his name, eventually he will make you take note.

“I mean, I came from nothing, really. I’m from Belgium, and I had nothing but dreams,” Camara said. “So, being out here, there’s no turning back. I gotta go all in.”

(Photo: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)



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