{"id":550618,"date":"2026-01-21T08:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T08:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/550618\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T08:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T08:06:17","slug":"deni-avdija-thanks-fans-after-all-star-vote-says-focus-remains-on-winning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/550618\/","title":{"rendered":"Deni Avdija thanks fans after All-Star vote, says focus remains on winning"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the middle of a packed NBA<\/a> schedule, the Portland Trail Blazers were granted a rare break: three consecutive days without a game. It marked only the fourth time this season the team had more than two days off, giving coach Tiago Splitter a chance to hold a full practice at the team facility in Tualatin.As expected, the focus of that practice was Deni Avdija<\/a>. The Israeli forward returned to the court late Sunday night after missing three games with a lower back strain and delivered a standout performance in a 117\u2013110 road win over the Sacramento Kings. Avdija logged 32 minutes, scored 30 points and added eight assists and eight rebounds, helping Portland secure its 10th win in the past 13 games.<\/p>\n

Two days later, Avdija offered an encouraging update on his condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to say that I felt pretty solid physically,\u201d he said. \u201cMy back was a little sore just because I didn\u2019t play for a week. I had to get my rhythm back a little bit. I think even in crunch time I felt like I was a little sloppy, but other than that I feel like I\u2019m in a good pace. The medical and coaching staff did a great job, and yeah, I\u2019m ready to continue playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he feels fully back now, Avdija said he is improving and making adjustments. \u201cDefinitely extra stretches,\u201d he said with a smile. \u201cTake my vitamins, sleep in different positions.\u201d He admitted he has been a stomach sleeper his entire life. \u201cThat\u2019s something I needed to change for sure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Another topic that came up was the All-Star voting. Avdija was not selected as a starter, but finished fifth in the fan vote and seventh overall in the Western Conference when combining votes from fans, players and coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, those are really great players with big names in the league,\u201d Avdija said. \u201cThey\u2019ve done a lot of good things. I\u2019m just focusing on winning and being a good teammate. Whatever is going to come with it is going to come with it. Obviously I wanted to be a starter, but it\u2019s all good and I don\u2019t trip about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the fan support, he added: \u201cFirst of all, shout out to the fans for showing me a lot of love. I wasn\u2019t expecting that amount of votes, but it really warms my heart to see how much support I get around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a social media post, Avdija addressed Israeli fans directly, writing: \u201cI have no words. Thank you, people of Israel, for what you\u2019re doing. You\u2019re helping me make dreams come true. I love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the individual recognition, the win in Sacramento brought Portland\u2019s record back to .500 at 22\u201322. Avdija said the team believes it is capable of more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we\u2019re better than .500,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had a lot of injuries and a lot of incidents throughout the season, and we also didn\u2019t have an easy schedule. But nobody cares about excuses. We figured it out. We stayed strong, we stayed together, and that\u2019s what matters. I\u2019m very proud of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Avdija also spoke about rookie Caleb, praising his confidence and impact. \u201cCaleb is huge for us,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s a rookie, still figuring things out, but he\u2019s doing a tremendous job. He has great habits, a great attitude, and a lot of potential. He\u2019s not scared. Even if he misses 20 shots, I still want him to take the 21st.\u201d<\/p>\n

With injured teammates returning to the lineup, Avdija believes the team can take another step forward. \u201cTheir experience and level of play bring maturity and spark,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody stepped up to cover for each other, and now that they\u2019re back, we\u2019re going to be even better.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, Avdija said the brief rest came at the right time. \u201cWe needed it,\u201d he said. \u201cThose couple of days to work on our offense, sharpen our defense and feel more confident are good for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the middle of a packed NBA schedule, the Portland Trail Blazers were granted a rare break: three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,601,6,687,471,3967,1617],"class_list":{"0":"post-550618","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-nba","11":"tag-portland","12":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","13":"tag-portlandtrailblazers","14":"tag-trail-blazers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115932062200608752","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550618","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=550618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}