Deni Avdija has provided the central story for the Portland Trail Blazers\u2019 2025-26 season. Hobbled by injuries and a general lack of shooting, the Blazers have struggled to advance to .500 since the first weeks of their campaign. Through it all, no matter the conditions or opponent, Avdija has led Portland\u2019s attack. Playing forward, wing, and some kind of hybrid point guard position, Deni has averaged 26 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists over 40 games, numbers not seen since superstar guard Damian Lillard left town back in 2023.<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, Avdija\u2019s ascendance is getting notice across the league, including among media members who vote for postseason awards. This week two separate sources tabbed Avdija as a Most Improved Player in waiting, singing his praises at the midseason mark.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old Deni Avdija\u2019s mid-career breakthrough recalls Jimmy Butler\u2019s most improved player campaign in 2014-15. Like the former Bulls wing, Avdija (26.1 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 6.9 apg) began his career on the bench and was tasked with doing the dirty work before he gradually earned more scoring opportunities through force of will and a relentless attacking approach.
A 2024 trade sent the Israeli forward from the Washington Wizards to Portland, enabling him to emerge as a No. 1 option on a roster in transition. Avdija\u2019s nonstop drives to the hoop have made him a regular presence at the free throw line, so much so that opponents are publicly complaining about how often the referees reward him with calls. Despite his increased playmaking responsibilities, Avdija has continued to live up to his \u201cTurbo\u201d nickname with stellar defensive energy. While Portland\u2019s losing record could make it more difficult for Avdija to land his first all-star selection, he has outperformed some rival stars who are earning more than twice his $14.4 million salary. Now that\u2019s value.<\/p>\n
The Blazers\u2019 injuries have forced Avdija to be the lead initiator on this team, and he\u2019s taken to that role really well. His shot profile and efficiency are really good too, as we\u2019ve seen the Blazers forward post a career-best 61.2 percent true shooting. He\u2019s gone from a nice role player to somebody who should be an All-Star.<\/p>\n
The season is only half over, but if these trends continue, Portland\u2019s prize player should be sitting pretty this spring, recognized for his accomplishments beyond the local stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deni Avdija has provided the central story for the Portland Trail Blazers\u2019 2025-26 season. Hobbled by injuries and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,601,37660,6,687,471,3967,1617],"class_list":{"0":"post-541315","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-portland-trail-blazers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-blazers","10":"tag-blazers-news","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-portland","13":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","14":"tag-portlandtrailblazers","15":"tag-trail-blazers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115906629178981930","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541315","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=541315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}