When the Portland Trail Blazers gave up four draft picks for Deni Avdija last summer, it seemed like an overpay. Avdija, the league’s only Israeli-born player, was coming off a breakout fourth season in Washington. But his stats had popped so much that some regression — especially in his shooting percentages — felt almost inevitable.
Instead, as the focal point of a young, head-turning team, Avdija’s gotten even better. A loss Thursday — in which he finished with 24 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds — all but ruled the Blazers (32-42) out of postseason contention. But the 6-foot-9 forward from Beit Zera is a big reason they’re even close.
It’s not just Avdija’s numbers, as well-rounded as they’ve been; the 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists he averages are a touch higher than last season’s output. It’s how he’s accruing them.
Around the New Year, with the team stuck in the Western Conference cellar, Head Coach Chauncey Billups promoted Deni to the starting lineup and started running the offense through him. Since then, the Blazers have won 21 out of 37 games — vaulting them up the West standings — and Avdija has blossomed into the team’s most valuable player.
A lot of what’s in Avdija’s bag — that means repertoire in hoops parlance — has been there all along. The Wizards made him the ninth pick in the 2020 draft (highest Israeli draft pick ever) because of his unique combination of size, athleticism and playmaking, but in his first three seasons he couldn’t reliably put them all together. More importantly, his shot just wasn’t going in. A dismal 31% clip from behind the arc in his first three seasons looked like a career death sentence in a league obsessed with three-pointers.
That percentage shot up to a Stephen Curry-like 44% last season, opening up the rest of his game. He’s a walking matchup problem: bigger and more physical than other wing players, and faster than other guys his size. He’s always been one of the league’s best at grabbing a rebound and starting a fast-break, earning him the nickname “Turbo.” But thanks to an improved handle, he’s also developed as a creator in pick-and-roll plays, where his height enables him to find teammates for open shots and his brawn makes him a battering ram if he keeps it.
That brings us to the biggest addition to Avdija’s game this year: menace. He’s been running through people! He’s driving to the basket more — 10 times per game, according to NBA Stats — and that physicality has been rewarded. Long the victim of a tough whistle, Avdija is taking a career-high 5 free-throws per game this year. He’s making them, too, with a personal-best 79% at the charity stripe.
He’s gotten better each month: The only other players averaging 20 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in March are Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo — who have a combined four Most Valuable Player awards between them. Suddenly, the four draft picks — and his four-year, $55 million contract — are looking quite the bargain.
“I don’t think I played like this before,” Avdija said after pouring in 36 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists in a win last week over the playoff-bound Denver Nuggets. “I think I knew I had it in me, but, I mean, I’m not really thinking about it. I’m just playing. I’m just free.”
A recent possession against the Orlando Magic encapsulated the new, free Deni. Initiating the play from the top of the arc, he dribbled left around a screen, then juked back to the right like a running back, picked up his dribble and surged toward the basket. A 6-foot-10 defender slid over to meet him at the rim — too late. Avdija dunked over him with his right hand. The defender fouled him in the act; naturally, Avdija completed the three-point play.
Looming over the Blazers’ imminent elimination — they’re four-and-a-half games out with eight games to play — is an ignominious statistic: An Israeli-born NBA player has never made the playoffs. Avdija currently ranks fifth among active players for most games without playing in the postseason; his countryman Omri Casspi, who played for seven teams in the 2010s, holds the record since the 1976 NBA-ABA merger.
It’s not really Avdija’s fault — he’s played for rebuilding teams, and the Wizards are even worse this year without him. But the Blazers will have to take another leap for Deni to end the drought. What seems clearer than ever, now, is that he’ll be a part of it when they do.
Louis Keene is a reporter for the Forward. His work has also been published in The New York Times, New York magazine and Vice. He is based in Los Angeles.