Two years later, Blazers are clear winner of Damian Lillard trade

Just before the start of the 2023-24 NBA season, the Portland Trail Blazers traded their All-Star guard Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks in a three-team deal that also sent Portland center Jusuf Nurkic, forward Nasir Little and guard Keon Johnson to the Phoenix Suns. 

The Bucks traded guard Jrue Holiday and three first-round picks to the Blazers and guard Grayson Allen to the Suns. 

Phoenix sent former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton to Portland, along with a second-round pick named Toumani Camara.

It's not exaggeration to say that things went very strangely for nearly every player involved in this trade. Lillard tore his Achillies and was just waived by the Bucks, who didn't win a playoff series in his two seasons in Wisconsin. The Blazers bought out Deandre Ayton after two disappointing seasons. The Suns sent the Charlotte Hornets a first-round pick to take Nurkic off their hands last season. They waived Little after one season and waived Johnson immediately.

Jrue Holiday went on to win an NBA title, but not until after Portland traded him to the Boston Celtics, who sent him back to the Pacific Northwest last month.

That leaves Camara, who was the most obscure player in the trade and may very well be the most valuable two years later. He started 78 games for the Blazers last season and made the All-Defensive second team. Camara is the epitome of a three-and-D players, locking down the opponents best player whether they were a point guard or a power forward and making 37.5% of his threes.

Aside from his defense and shooting, Camara rebounds and runs the floor, and he's strong enough to play the five for stretches in small-ball lineups. Camara is still only 25 and looks to be a part of the Blazers' future for a long time. And now he gets to finally play with Holiday, also an All-Defensive team regular, two years after their big trade.

So as we all look at moves in the current frenzy of transactions, just remember that less than two years ago, no one would have identified Camara as the prize of the Lillard trade — but he was.