{"id":533571,"date":"2026-01-13T09:10:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T09:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/533571\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T09:10:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T09:10:23","slug":"trail-blazers-announce-deni-avdija-news-on-monday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/533571\/","title":{"rendered":"Trail Blazers Announce Deni Avdija News on Monday"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> have been playing better basketball as of late, looking more competitive as their rebuild begins to take shape.<\/p>\n

A huge reason for their improved play has been the emergence of small forward Deni Avdija, who has taken a massive step forward in his sixth NBA<\/a> season.<\/p>\n

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The 25-year-old is a serious candidate for the Most Improved Player award, thanks to his expanded offensive role and all-around impact.<\/p>\n

Avdija has shown greater confidence as a scorer, attacking the rim with consistency while also knocking down perimeter shots at a respectable clip. His playmaking has elevated Portland\u2019s offense, as he has become a reliable facilitator who can create for teammates while still carrying the scoring load.<\/p>\n

Through 40 games, Avdija has posted 26.1 points, 7.1 rebounds and 6.9 assists while shooting 46.8% from the field and 35.5% from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n

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\"Portland<\/p>\n

Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija (8)Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

During Sunday\u2019s loss to the New York Knicks<\/a>, Avdija put together another strong performance, finishing with 25 points, five rebounds and four assists across 38 minutes of action.<\/p>\n

However, the real concern emerged late in the fourth quarter when he headed back to the locker room in visible discomfort.<\/p>\n

After the game, Trail Blazers head coach Tiago Splitter expressed caution, saying, \u201cI don\u2019t want to sound the alarms too early, but I am worried about it\u201d (h\/t Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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On Monday, Portland announced its official injury report for Tuesday\u2019s road matchup against the Golden State Warriors<\/a>, ruling Avdija out with lower back soreness.<\/p>\n

The designation suggests that Splitter\u2019s concern was warranted, and the team will need to be careful in managing his workload moving forward.<\/p>\n

Avdija\u2019s breakout season has been one of the few bright spots in Portland\u2019s rebuild, and his health will be critical if the Trail Blazers hope to sustain their recent progress.<\/p>\n

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Selected ninth overall in the 2020 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards<\/a>, he spent four seasons developing into a versatile forward before being traded to Portland in 2024 in a deal involving Malcolm Brogdon and draft picks. That move marked a fresh chapter in his career \u2014 one in which he has flourished.<\/p>\n

Related: Timberwolves Announce Anthony Edwards Status Update Before Bucks Game<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jan 13, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Portland Trail Blazers have been playing better basketball as of late, looking more competitive as their rebuild…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,7008,601,125,980,164,5673,7212,2729,7211,6,191,687,471,3967,4425,15840,1617,468],"class_list":["post-533571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-portland-trail-blazers","tag-basketball","tag-blake-wesley","tag-blazers","tag-damian-lillard","tag-deni-avdija","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-jerami-grant","tag-kris-murray","tag-malcolm-brogdon","tag-matisse-thybulle","tag-nba","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-portland","tag-portland-trail-blazers","tag-portlandtrailblazers","tag-scoot-henderson","tag-tiago-splitter","tag-trail-blazers","tag-washington-wizards"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115887015832933030","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533571","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=533571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}