Dec 6, 2024; Portland, Oregon, USA: Portland Trail Blazers (from left to right) Anfernee Simons (1), Shaedon Sharpe (17), Duop Reath (26), Jerami Grant (9), and Deni Avdija (8) walk back to the court after a timeout during the first half against the Utah Jazz at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-Imagn Images Soobum Im-Imagn Images

Blazers Star Seen as EuroBasket 2025's Most Underrated Talent

Originally posted on Portland Trail Blazers on SI
By Alex Kirschenbaum | Last updated Aug 23, 2025 7:00 PM ET

The Portland Trail Blazers may have uncovered a star in 2024-25.

The team seems to have gotten terribly lucky in offloading the expiring contract of Malcolm Brogdon (who remains unsigned very late into free agency, by the way) and some draft equity to the Washington Wizards in exchange for consistent triple-double threat small forward Deni Avdija.

Avdija, who'll be plying his trade for his native Israel in this summer's EuroBasket competition starting next week, has emerged as one of the top stars from the continent, per a fresh ranking.

Neil Paine of ESPN has ranked Avdija as the No. 8-best player at all of EuroBasket this year, ahead of Memphis Grizzlies big man Santi Aldama and Boston Celtics center Neemias Queta. Former two-time All-Star Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic and Sacramento Kings point guard Dennis Schroder didn't even make Paine's top 10.

"Avdija is possibly the most underrated player at this EuroBasket," Paine writes. "He made full use of a trade that sent him from the Washington Wizards to the Portland Trail Blazers this past summer, breaking out for new career high averages in points (16.9), rebounds (7.3), assists (3.9), True Shooting percentage (60.5%), PER (17.7), Win Shares (5.6), Estimated RAPTOR (plus-1.7) and WAR (5.1). Hints of further progress as a shooter and ball handler would prove his staying power."

Avdija also connected on .476/.365/.780 shooting splits. After the All-Star break, Avdija got even better. In 20 games from February 20 onward, the 6-foot-9 forward averaged 23.3 points on .508/.417/.782 shooting splits, 9.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.0 steals.

The exciting thing about Avdija is that the 24-year-old still has room to grow. Over the course of a full season, armed hopefully with better backcourt shooting around him in the form of Jrue Holiday and some internal development for Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson, his passing game should only improve.

"He does have a history of big performances on the international stage: He was MVP of the 2019 FIBA U20 European Championship, hosted in his native Israel, averaging 18.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.1 steals and 2.4 blocks en route to gold," Paine adds. "Though that type of team success is unlikely this time around (Israel is tied for the lowest odds in the field), Avdija should put up good individual numbers."