Toumani Camara ( ; born 8 May 2000) is a Belgian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). Raised in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, he moved to the United States to attend

Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory (CMCP) is a private Marianist school located in Hollywood, Florida, United States, on Chaminade Drive, in front of Nativity Catholic School in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami. Covering high school an ...

Hollywood, Florida Hollywood is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States, located between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. As of July 1, 2019, Hollywood had a population of 154,817. Founded in 1925, the city grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and is now ...

. Camara started his

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

career with the

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...

and then transferred to the Dayton Flyers after his sophomore season. He was selected in the 2023 NBA draft by the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

and traded to the Trail Blazers before the start of his rookie season.

Early life

Camara was raised in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium. His mother, Anne Le Docte, is of Belgian and Haitian origin while his father is from Mali. Camara and his older brother were raised solely by Le Docte since he was five years old. He had a sister who died from a lung ailment when she was three months old. Camara has four butterflies tattooed on his right leg to pay tribute to his family: his mother, his brother, his sister and himself. Camara first started playing basketball after being influenced by his brother. A local basketball court was occupied by

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

players throughout the day and Camara would have to wait until nighttime to play. His first exposure to American basketball was the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

which was broadcast on Belgian television. Camara stayed awake into early mornings when he found a website that broadcast live

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

games and became a fan of

Dwyane Wade Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr. (; born January 17, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. Wade spent the majority of his 16-year career playing for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and won three NBA champi ...

while he watched him win a championship with the Miami Heat. Camara developed into a promising player and played for the Belgium national team that competed in the

2016 FIBA U16 European Championship Division B The 2016 FIBA U16 European Championship Division B was played in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 11 to 20 August 2016. 24 teams participated in the competition. Russia won the tournament for the first time, with Israel finishing second. Participating teams ...

. His Belgian coach had a friend who coached in Weston, Florida, and agreed to help Camara find a school in the United States. Camara moved to the United States at the age of 16 to attend

High school career

Camara played at Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School where he averaged a double-double in his junior and senior seasons. He was recruited by more than 30

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

schools. Camara toured the

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio. The univ ...

and

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

but committed to the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

to play for the

Bulldogs The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.freshman season, he was teammates with future #1 pick of the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

, Anthony Edwards. He was mentioned as a possible NBA prospect before the start of his sophomore season but his stock fell. Camara finished his sophomore season with averages of 12.8 points and a team-best 7.7 rebounds per game. On 1 April 2021, Camara announced that he was entering the

transfer portal The NCAA transfer portal is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) application, database, and compliance tool launched on October 15, 2018, to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member ...

; he stated that he felt like he would be able to develop more while playing for a different team. On 8 April 2021, Camara committed to play for Dayton Flyers. He averaged 10.9 points and 6.9 rebounds during the 2021–22 season, earning him a nomination to the All-

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

third team. Camara declared for the

2022 NBA draft The 2022 NBA draft (branded as the 2022 NBA Draft presented by State Farm for sponsorship reasons), the 76th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on June 23, 2022, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The ...

but withdrew after testing the process. He was appointed as the Flyers' team captain for the 2022–23 season and was the only fourth-year player on the roster. Camara averaged 13.9 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. He was selected to the All-Atlantic 10 first team and the all-defensive team. On 25 April 2023, Camara announced that he had declared for the 2023 NBA draft to forgo his final season of collegiate eligibility. He was invited to participate at the NBA Draft Combine.

Professional career

Portland Trail Blazers (2023–present)

Camara was drafted by the

as the 52nd pick of the 2023 NBA draft. Camara signed a four-year rookie scaled contract on 3 July 2023. On 27 September 2023, Camara, alongside Jrue Holiday,

Deandre Ayton Deandre Edoneille Ayton Sr. (born July 23, 1998) is a Bahamian professional basketball player who plays for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played for the Arizona Wildcats in the Pac-12 Conference in the 2017� ...

and a 2029 first-round draft pick was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers as part of a three-team deal that sent Damian Lillard to the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

and

Grayson Allen Grayson James Allen (born October 8, 1995) is an American professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played four years of college basketball at Duke University. Allen was drafted with ...

Jusuf Nurkić Jusuf Nurkić (; born 23 August 1994), nicknamed "the Bosnian Beast", is a Bosnian professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Standing at tall and weighing 290 lb (132 kg ...

Nassir Little Nassir Shamai Little (born February 11, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Little finished his high school career as one of the top-ranked players in hi ...

and Keon Johnson to the Phoenix Suns. He made his Blazers debut on 25 October in a game against the Los Angeles Clippers where he recorded seven points, one assist and two rebounds.

National team career

Camara was selected to represent Belgium on the youth level, at the

. During the tournament with the Belgium U16 national team, he finished with averages of 2.4 points and 2.9 rebounds per game.

References

External links

College statisticsDayton Flyers bioGeorgia Bulldogs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camara, Toumani 2000 births Living people Belgian expatriate basketball people in the United States Belgian men's basketball players Belgian people of Haitian descent Belgian people of Malian descent Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School alumni Dayton Flyers men's basketball players Forwards (basketball) Georgia Bulldogs basketball players Phoenix Suns draft picks Portland Trail Blazers players Basketball players from Brussels