Suns Urged to Trade for Former Draft Pick

The Phoenix Suns could right their wrong with trading away their former draft pick.

Nov 22, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward Toumani Camara (33) shoots against the Houston Rockets during the third quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images / Erik Williams-Imagn Images

PHOENIX -- Toumani Camara was once a promising draft pick for the Phoenix Suns before being dealt to the Portland Trail Blazers in the massive deal that saw Deandre Ayton also pack his bags for guys such as Jusuf Nurkic and Grayson Allen coming back to the Valley.

Camara impressed Suns brass in Summer League play and has since impressed those in Portland through the early stages of his career. Superstar in the making? Not quite, though Camara is evolving into a very solid piece of Portland's puzzle moving forward.

Bleacher Report would love to see a reunion between Phoenix and Camara.

In their article going through dream and realistic trade targets, Camara was indeed name dropped as Phoenix's "realistic" possibility.

"The Phoenix Suns had the right idea drafting Ryan Dunn, a defensive star in college who apparently learned how to shoot threes over the summer. Why not double down on the versatile-defense play and go after Camara, a switchable, high-energy forward whose shooting growth as a sophomore is almost as surprising as the leap Dunn made after the draft?" wrote Grant Hughes.

"And why not remedy the mistake of trading Camara away in the first place?

"Camara is a starter for Portland, and he's a good piece to have around if the Blazers eventually orient the roster around offense-first guards like Scoot Henderson (who's looked better so far!) and Shaedon Sharpe. Dream targets aren't supposed to be easy to acquire, but the Suns should be motivated to pursue Camara for reasons beyond his play.

"His four-year, $7.6 million deal would barely register on Phoenix's bloated payroll."

Adding Camara would offer a nice balance of youthful talent to Phoenix's top-heavy roster, and teams could certainly do worse with a Dunn-Ighodaro-Camara trio in their locker room.

However, it feels like it would take a lot for Portland to move off Camara, especially since the organization reportedly insisted Camara was part of the original trade package and has only seen their confidence paid in dividends since.