Toumani Camara to Miss the Rest of the Season With Rib and Kidney Injuries

The injury hits keep coming for the Trail Blazers.

📸: Alika Jenner, Getty Images

The Trail Blazers’ all-rookie starting five lasted for three games before Toumani Camara, who has undoubtedly been the best of their first-year players this season, missed Friday’s 60-point blowout loss in Miami with a bruised rib. Now, a long list of injured players gets longer with nine games to go, with the team announcing on Saturday that Camara’s season is over and officially diagnosing the injury as a fractured rib and kidney laceration.

Camara has been one of the few bright spots of the first season of the Blazers’ rebuild. The No. 52 overall pick in the 2023 draft by Phoenix, he came over from the Suns along with Deandre Ayton as part of the three-team trade that sent Damian Lillard to Milwaukee. He quickly became a fan favorite and earned a starting spot only a few weeks into the season.

Camara’s defensive impact and tenacity made him an early favorite of head coach Chauncey Billups from the start of training camp, and his offense took a jump in the second half of the season. Now, he’ll be sidelined for the final eight games for the Blazers, who are currently 19-55 and have lost nine games in a row.

Camara is far from alone on the Blazers’ injury report. Malcolm Brogdon has been out since early February with left elbow tendinitis, and Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant have also missed time this month. Matisse Thybulle returned to the court in the loss to Miami after missing five games with an ankle injury, but exited the game after re-aggravating it. Ayton also returned to the lineup after a four-game absence. There is hope that Shaedon Sharpe could return for the final stretch of the season after undergoing a core muscle surgery in February.

But the loss of Camara stands as yet another blow in a season quickly running short on silver linings.