The Portland Trail Blazers might be more active in the 2025 NBA trade market than they were in 2024. They made just one significant deal last year, sending point guard Malcolm Brogdon and a 2029 first-round pick to the Washington Wizards for forward Deni Avdija.
Avdija had a wonderful first season in Portland. He became the feel-good story of an otherwise-pedestrian 36-win campaign, delighting crowds with his defense, footspeed, and nifty passing.
Given that, is there any way the Blazers would consider moving him? That question is at the center of today’s hot-topical Blazer’s Edge Mailbag.
Dave,
I don’t know if you read the latest but people are debating now whether Deni [Avdija] could ever be traded. There’s a rumor that the Spurs don’t want Kevin Durant anymore and Avdija is on their list of targets. Do you think the Blazers would go for it with San Antonio or anyone? Do you see any scenarios that would work?
BD
I’d take rumors as just that until something stronger comes up. I don’t think this is on the front burner. It may not even be on the stove. It sounds kind of like vaporware to me, but what do I know?
Let’s give the possibility credence for just a second in order to discuss it.
Is Deni Avdija worth trading? Maybe. It depends on the conditions.
Avdija is a two-way player, a forward who can guard positions 1-4 and cover the whole floor. He pushes the break and can distribute the ball. He can score as well. He averaged 17 points in 30 minutes last season and posted 8 games with 30 points or better. He’s a super efficient scorer from two-point range, especially given his style of play. His three-point shot is decent. He’s also durable, playing 70 or more games in each of the last four seasons.
In other words, Deni is pretty much the archetype of the modern NBA player. He’s going to have value on the market. He has that same value, or more, to the Blazers. That makes the bar for trading him high.
It gets even higher when you consider his contract. Avdija is scheduled to make $14.4 million next season. That drops to $13.1 million in 2026-27 and $11.9 million in 2027-28. That declining contract, combined with his skillset and production, makes him a sparkly diamond among his NBA colleagues.
In short, it’ll take a lot for the Blazers to even consider moving him.
What qualifies as “a lot”? Well, the one thing that Avdija is not yet is a franchise-leading star. There’s a non-zero chance that he could become one. He’s 24 years old, heading into his sixth NBA season, and he flourished last year when given carte blanche by Blazers Head Coach Chauncey Billups to push the offense. If he adds 3 points and 2 assists to his overall totals, he’s going to be spoken of in reverential terms around the league.
Odds are, he’ll be a great supporting player rather than a bona fide first option, though. Stars are the rarest commodity in the NBA. If the Blazers could get one for him, they might have to think about it.
That brings us to the Spurs. Yes, Avdija would look great in San Antonio’s system alongside Victor Wembanyama. Jennifer Connely and Jessica Alba would look great sitting across from me at our local sushi spot too. That’s probably not going to happen.
The Spurs do hold the second overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft. If the Dallas Mavericks were dangling the first pick and Cooper Flagg in front of the Blazers, Avdija would be gone yesterday. (Evidence that he’s not completely untouchable.) Is point guard Dylan Harper, the presumptive second pick of the draft, on that same level?
That’s the major question at hand. Personally, I’d say maybe. A 6’6 point guard with a 6’10 wingspan, a good assist-to-turnover rate, decent defense, and big scoring potential is hard to pass up. Harper is a matchup-advantage player, though. Whether he’ll find those same advantages in the NBA remains to be seen. Best bet is that he’s going to be an All-Star. Avdija will probably reach those heights infrequently, if at all. That makes the swap tempting from Portland’s point of view.
Would either team actually execute such a trade?
If Harper is such a big deal, would San Antonio trade him away for Avdija? Maybe if Portland threw in the 11th pick as well. The Spurs already have a point guard in De’Aaron Fox. He and Harper are not likely to mesh. San Antonio might figure they can get a veteran wing in Avdija, another young one with the 11th pick, and come out almost as strong in the 3-4 positions as they are at guard with Fox and Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle and center with Wembanyama. They might lose out a little on raw talent, but if they can’t use that talent, it doesn’t do them much good.
The Blazers would lose part of their backbone but they’d get a whole new head and brain. They’d need to figure out what to do with the third overall pick from the 2023 NBA Draft, Scoot Henderson. He and Harper are not likely to coexist much better than Harper and Fox would. But that would be a problem for another day. For now, getting a star would supersede all other considerations.
The move is a risk for both franchises. The Spurs might be losing a generational talent. The Blazers could be chasing fool’s gold. Either way, the valuation of Harper is the key to this deal. I do not see the Blazers moving Avdija for any less of a return than the second pick at this point. I’m not sure if the Spurs would be willing to move down to get Deni, but if they were, Portland would at least have to think about it.
What say you? Would you go for a trade that centered around Deni and the 11th pick for the second overall? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. And if you have a question, you can send it to blazersub@gmail.com. We always try to answer as many as possible!