Bucks Trade Candidate: Toumani Camara

Could the Bucks find a package for the young wing?

We have reached one of the best times on the NBA calendar: trade season! It’s less than a month from the February 6th deadline, so we’re gonna do what we do best and bring you some of our trade candidates for the Milwaukee Bucks. In this installment, we’ll take a look at a 24-year-old wing from the Portland Trail Blazers, Toumani Camara.

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The Player

Tuomani Camara, 6’7” 220 lb, wing

Season averages: 9.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.4 SPG, 0.5 BPG, .442/.349/.767

In a small way, Camara already has a connection with the Milwaukee Bucks. Camara was sent to Portland in the Damian Lillard trade after being drafted no. 52 overall by the Phoenix Suns in the 2023 NBA Draft. In the aftermath of the trade, Sam Quick of The Athletic reported that losing Camara was one of the hardest parts of that three-team swap. “That was one of the hardest parts of the trade,” Suns coach Frank Vogel told Quick. “Obviously, losing Deandre was big as well, but Toumani… we were high on him as a prospect. And once we got him in our building and saw him play in summer league, we got even more excited about him. But in this league, to get something good, you have to give up something good.”

It’s hard not to see why, after his first two years with the Trail Blazers, he rose to the starting lineup just 10 games into his rookie campaign. Since then, Camara has become one of the best on-ball defenders in the league, holding some of the best in the league to some of their worst shooting nights, including Stephen Curry.

Camara isn’t an offensive force but has taken a decent jump from his rookie year, close to averaging 10 points per game. His efficiency from beyond the arc is solid, with him taking nearly double the three-pointers (2.5 to 4.3) and making a slightly higher percentage of them despite the increased volume (33.7% to 35.1%).

The Trades

Let’s start with this complicated four-team trade for the Bucks to acquire Camara. Because of CBA rules, this deal would have to be completed as three separate transactions on the Bucks’ end to make it legal. The trade machines at both Fanspo and Spotrac treat this as one trade, hence why it says “failed” above. So let’s break it apart. In the first trade, the Bucks would send their 2031 second-round pick and Chris Livingston to the Trail Blazers for Camara in what’s known as a simultaneous trade.

In the second trade, the Bucks would send Tyler Smith to the San Antonio Spurs (via their room exception), technically for nothing. For the purposes of this graphic, they get a second-round pick, which would be heading to Portland.

In the third, they would send AJ Johnson to the Charlotte Hornets, also technically for nothing. These last two trades are non-simultaneous, generating small trade exceptions for the Bucks.

For the other teams, they can count it as one deal and it works out like this: the Hornets acquire AJ Johnson for Taj Gibson and a 2027 second-round pick (either via New Orleans or Portland). The Spurs would acquire Tyler Smith for a 2030 second-round pick (via Cleveland) but would need to waive a player. The Trail Blazers acquire Taj Gibson (who they’d likely waive), Chris Livingston, and three second-round picks for Camara.

The basketball reasons for this trade make sense, as the Bucks would be trading three players currently not in the rotation and a draft pick for a player who could become an instant member of the rotation. Camara is also someone they would have under contract for a while and add some much-needed defense on the perimeter. The main issues arise when you consider whether or not Portland would take three second-round picks for a player they seem to be very high on and the “Mr. Irrelevant” of the 2023 class in Livingston.

Charlotte only has to give up a second for a guard who could be part of the rotation next year, with Tre Mann hitting free agency and Vasilije Micic having a rough season. Then the Spurs gave up a distant second-round pick for a young player like Smith. It may be a bad look for Bucks GM Jon Horst to trade both of his 2024 draft selections just half a season in after he received criticism for taking two project players in the middle of a title-contending window. For the Blazers’ uncertainty and the potential job implications for Horst, this trade has very low odds of being proposed, let alone accepted by all four parties. With that in mind, I see the trade below as a more likely option for the Blazers to take.

As an avid fan of Andre Jackson Jr.’s game, this one stings quite a bit for me. In a much simpler deal than the other one proposed, the Bucks send their 2023 second-round pick in AJax and the 2031 Blazers second-round pick. Now I know this will cause a bit of an uproar with the AJax stans among the fandom, and I understand. He’s an exciting defensive player with great athleticism and good passing skills.

Yet he’s a bit undersized, and I worry about his offensive limitations against some of the best teams in the East. I’m not saying he couldn’t do an admirable job guarding Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, or Jaylen Brown, but if there is an opportunity to trade for someone who has better size, is as a good defender as Jackson is (if not better), and is a somewhat competent shooter, then you make that deal. Not to mention that Camara, for his size, is plenty athletic and can throw it down with the best of them on the offensive end, but we’ll get into his fit more in the next section.

The Fit

We’ll operate under the assumption that it’s AJax that gets sent to Portland in this deal. If I were the head coach, Camara would get the start over Tauren Prince at the three. However, based on how Doc Rivers has handled the starting lineup this season, Prince would likely remain at small forward until Middleton gets up to snuff and Camara would come off the bench. The only change to the starting lineup comes at shooting guard where AJ Green might move to the starting two guard:

PG – Damian Lillard

SG – AJ Green

SF – Taurean Prince

PF – Giannis Antetokounmpo

C – Brook Lopez

That’s not to say that Camara won’t play with any of the starters; he will firmly be one of the top eight in the Bucks rotation. His size and ability on defense could make for some unique lineup combinations to play him as a small-ball power forward with Giannis at center. They could run this lineup switching in either Middleton or Prince at the three:

PG – Dame

SG – Green

SF – Middleton/Prince

PF – Camara

C – Giannis

One of the other plusses is that the Bucks would then have a bigger wing off the bench at the four when they decide to run Bobby Portis at center, helping their interior defense by keeping opponents out on the perimeter. A bench lineup of Rollins, Trent, Middleton, Camara, and Portis has a good mix of offense and defense, inside and out.

As for his overall fit with the team, Camara is a true defensive stopper on the perimeter. In his short career, he is already one of the league’s premier defenders, with him being in the 99th percentile in isolation perimeter defense at one point, according to Basketball Index. We all know the type of havoc that AJax can cause some of the best in the league (see his performance against Shai Gilegous-Alexander in the NBA Cup), but Camara can do that at the same, if not an even higher level.

The fit next to Giannis and his ability to shoot the ball does come into question. Yet, at the very least, Camara regularly shoots three-pointers, and he doesn’t need the ball in his hand to do it. 3.3 of his four three-point attempts per game from deep are catch-and-shoot, shooting 33.3% on these attempts. He also provides value on the offensive glass, averaging 2.1 boards per game off his team’s misses. Camara also has the athletic ability to turn those offensive rebounds into instant points.

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Check back next week for more Bucks trade candidates, but until then, let us know what you think of this trade. Is it too much/not enough to give up? Does Camara not interest you at all? If so, who does? We may have a piece on them in the works too.