Israeli NBA player Deni Avdija clocks in career-high performance

Avdija — who was drafted in 2020 and is the only current NBA player born in Israel — played for 41 minutes and scored 27 points, a team-high 15 rebounds, and five assists during the Trail Blazer’s 114-113 loss to the Knicks.

By Shiryn Ghermezian, The Algemeiner

Israeli basketball player and Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija has been putting on the best performance of his career this month in the final leg of the NBA season.

This month marks the first time in Avdija’s NBA career that he achieved a first half double-double, and he did it twice in two games. A double-double is completed when a basketball player achieves double-digit numbers in two of the five major statistical categories (assists, blocks, points, rebounds and steals) during a single game.

Avdija achieved 30 points — his first career triple double – 12 rebounds and 10 assists in an overtime loss to Cleveland on March 2, and a 27-point double-double during his team’s Wednesday night overtime loss to the New York Knicks.

Avdija — who was drafted in 2020 and is the only current NBA player born in Israel — played for 41 minutes and scored 27 points, a team-high 15 rebounds and five assists during the Trail Blazer’s 114-113 loss to the Knicks at the Moda Center in Portland.

On Monday night, Avdija returned to the court after missing two games due to a left quad contusion and scored a career-high 34 points, along with 16 rebounds during his team’s 130-120 loss were both season-highs.

The Trailblazers have been relying heavily on the 24-year-old since Jerami Grant and Deandre Ayton have been off the roster due to knee and calf injuries, respectively, while Jabari Walker stepped out of Wednesday’s game after a mere 11 minutes because of a concussion.

In a post-game interview on Wednesday night, a reporter asked Avdija about his stellar performances recently.

“I’m working very hard. I felt very down on myself in the beginning of the year,” he explained. “I was definitely questioning myself – how can I help the team? How I’m gonna fit in? And I had a lot of worries when I came. But our organization, the players around me and the coaches, they really hugged and embraced me. And they really helped me to understand that I can really help this team. And this is what I’m trying to do. I’m giving my heart out, night in [and] night out. [Doing] treatment and hours like late night, just to try to get ready as much as possible to help the team. Right now I’m not thinking. I’m just playing hard, and wanna win games and that’s about it.”

Portland acquired Avdija from the Washington Wizards in July 2024. The former Maccabi Tel Aviv player was the ninth overall selection by the Washington Wizards in the 2020 NBA Draft.