{"id":16634,"date":"2025-05-07T18:32:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T18:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/16634\/"},"modified":"2025-05-07T18:32:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T18:32:08","slug":"deni-avdija-teeters-on-the-brink-of-stardom-for-the-trail-blazers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/16634\/","title":{"rendered":"Deni Avdija Teeters on the Brink of Stardom for the Trail Blazers"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the 2025 NBA Playoffs<\/a> chug onward (How\u2019s that \u201cMost Overrated\u201d vote for Tyrese Haliburton looking now?) and the Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> await their fate in the NBA Draft<\/a> Lottery, we\u2019re taking a look at the performance of Portland\u2019s current roster during the 2024-25 season. So far we\u2019ve talked about Scoot Henderson<\/a>, Shaedon Sharpe<\/a>, Jerami Grant<\/a>, Deandre Ayton<\/a>, Anfernee Simons<\/a>, Toumani Camara<\/a>, and Donovan Clingan<\/a>. Today we\u2019re examining fan favorite, Mr. Everything, forward Deni Avdija.<\/p>\n

The Good<\/p>\n

Avdija\u2019s 16.9 points per game trails Shaedon Sharpe and Anfernee Simons for the team lead, but he scored those points on just 11.7 field goal attempts per game. Nobody on the roster comes close to Deni\u2019s 1.44 point-per-shot ratio. He\u2019s the team\u2019s best non-center in overall field goal percentage, second only to Toumani Camara in three-point percentage among regular rotation players. Per point and per possession, Avdija is right up there with Portland\u2019s best scorers.<\/p>\n

This deserves underlining because Avdija is known as a jack-of-all trades, a two-way wing rather than a scoring guard. Even his lesser-heralded attributes are good. His acclaimed strengths are great.<\/p>\n

Avdija stands with Camara as a true perimeter defender. He\u2019s also a passer and playmaker. Scoot Henderson obliterates Avdija in assist rate, but Avdija is nearly as good as Anfernee Simons in dimes per possession. But Deni also runs the break, stops opposing dribblers, and rebounds at an impressive 11.7 per 100 possessions clip.<\/p>\n

Avdija trailed only Donovan Clingan in net plus\/minus per 100 possessions this season, meaning he had the greatest positive (statistical) effect on the team of any starter, better than all the regular bench players besides Clingan as well. Whatever the best version of the Blazers is, it certainly includes Deni.<\/p>\n

The Bad<\/p>\n

A few minor blemishes followed Avdija this season. Though his 47.6% overall and 36.5% three-point percentages were good compared to his Blazers teammates, they were down from last season\u2019s performance with the Washington Wizards<\/a> (50.6% and 37.4%, respectively). Avdija\u2019s three-point shot needs to be more bankable. He got open looks. He just wasn\u2019t completely consistent.<\/p>\n

Deni also led the team in turnovers, barely trailing Henderson in turnovers per minute and possession, but not producing as many assists as Henderson did. Paring those down would stake his claim to being a true table-setter as opposed to one of the nicer secondary facilitators in the league.<\/p>\n

Avdija\u2019s free throw percentage of 78.0% was adequate, but there\u2019s no reason it couldn\u2019t be better. He draws foul shots at a better rate than anybody on the roster. He could take advantage by being better at the line.<\/p>\n

The Analysis<\/p>\n

Avdija\u2019s strengths and areas to work on both tell the same story: he\u2019s really good, on the verge of greatness. It wouldn\u2019t take much to tip him over the edge to true stardom. A few more points per game is the first key, a little better discipline in the halfcourt offense is the second.<\/p>\n

Shooting percentages will solve half of the issue. If Deni can hit threes at a near-40% level while shooting 85% from the line, he\u2019s going to stake his claim to more shots and possessions. A few more shots at a better percentage would up his scoring from 17 to 21 per game. Add the 7 rebounds he\u2019s already getting, 5 assists instead of 4, and 2.2 turnovers instead of 2.7\u2014tossing in his defensive prowess\u2014and you have a player everybody in the league would want and the Blazers would not trade for any amount of compensation.<\/p>\n

We need to see if Avdija will make that leap, though. He\u2019s valuable either way, but there\u2019s a huge difference between becoming the franchise\u2019s second star and becoming a great role-player whose weaknesses you tolerate. The ball is in Deni\u2019s hands, both literally and figuratively. Nobody\u2019s going to stop him from being everything he can be. He just needs to show us what that is.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Next?<\/p>\n

The next two seasons will tell a lot about Avdija\u2019s career arc. It\u2019ll also show a lot about Portland\u2019s commitment to him. He\u2019s on a declining contract. He made $15.6 million this season, but that will slide to $14.3 million next, then $13.1 and $11.9 million. Even the original rate is only a mid-level exception in today\u2019s NBA. That\u2019s clearly inappropriate to Avdija\u2019s production and trajectory.<\/p>\n

The Blazers do have the option of riding out the deal until its conclusion in the Summer of 2028. Even if Avdija takes no further steps forward, they\u2019d have gotten a steal with that deal. They could also try to renegotiate and extend Avdija, in essence giving him a raise early. Because of arcane CBA rules, they\u2019d need to be under the cap to do that. That would likely mean jettisoning some of their current stars in order to bank on, and secure, Deni.<\/p>\n

This is where the, \u201cWhat kind of player is Avdjja, exactly?\u201d question comes into play. If he\u2019s looking like a star-level player next season, some of their decisions become easier.<\/p>\n

In a perfect world, Avdija trims up his offensive game and alleviates Portland\u2019s eternal point guard question by becoming, in essence, a second point guard himself. Add a high-profile scorer via internal development, draft, or trade and the Blazers are in business. If that doesn\u2019t happen, his diverse skillset will allow him to fit into whatever team and schemes develop around him. As a third starter or a super-sixth-man, he\u2019ll always be useful.<\/p>\n

Either way, Deni Avdija has proven himself one of the bright spots for the Blazers in an otherwise mixed-feelings year. They\u2019re going to shine a spotlight on him as next season rolls around. Let\u2019s see if he can outshine it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the 2025 NBA Playoffs chug onward (How\u2019s that \u201cMost Overrated\u201d vote for Tyrese Haliburton looking now?) and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[4317,7,41,601,1658,4316,43,95,28,6,169,1385,687,471,3967,42,6330,6329,64,688,1617,4030],"class_list":{"0":"post-16634","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-portland-trail-blazers","8":"tag-avdija","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-blazer","11":"tag-blazers","12":"tag-brink","13":"tag-deni","14":"tag-edge","15":"tag-for","16":"tag-front-page","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-of","19":"tag-on","20":"tag-portland","21":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","22":"tag-portlandtrailblazers","23":"tag-s","24":"tag-stardom","25":"tag-teeters","26":"tag-the","27":"tag-trail","28":"tag-trail-blazers","29":"tag-trail-blazers-analysis"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114467985489775321","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}