Damon Stoudamire

Damon Stoudamire is a former American NBA point guard best known for his time with the Toronto Raptors and Portland Trail Blazers. Born on September 3, 1973, in Portland, Oregon, Stoudamire played college basketball at the University of Arizona before being selected 7th overall by the Toronto Raptors in the 1995 NBA Draft. Despite standing only 5'10" (1.78 m), Stoudamire quickly established himself as one of the league’s most exciting young guards. Nicknamed **“Mighty Mouse,”** he averaged 19.0 points and 9.3 assists during his first NBA season and was named **NBA Rookie of the Year in 1996**. In 1998, Stoudamire returned to his hometown when he was traded to the **Portland Trail Blazers**. He became an important part of a talented Portland roster featuring players such as **Rasheed Wallace, Scottie Pippen, Arvydas Sabonis, Steve Smith and later Zach Randolph**. The Blazers reached the Western Conference Finals in 1999 and 2000, coming extremely close to reaching the NBA Finals in 2000. Stoudamire also played during the controversial **“Jail Blazers” era**, when Portland's talented roster became known as much for off-court incidents and controversy as for basketball. Stoudamire himself faced several marijuana-related incidents during this period, making him one of the recognizable figures associated with that chapter of Blazers history. After leaving Portland in 2005, he played for the Memphis Grizzlies and briefly for the San Antonio Spurs. Stoudamire finished his NBA career with averages of **13.4 points, 6.1 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game**. After retiring as a player, Stoudamire moved into coaching, beginning a new chapter in a basketball career that took him from undersized NBA prospect to Rookie of the Year, playoff contender and one of the memorable point guards of the late 1990s and early 2000s.