With the Portland Trail Blazers fresh off a huge win over the Houston Rockets that it\u2019ll take all day to celebrate, it\u2019s time to tackle one of the lesser and easier (but still pertinent) Blazer\u2019s Edge Mailbag questions about everybody\u2019s favorite Blazers player. Take a look.<\/p>\n
Lots of talk about Deni being an all star this year but I\u2019m thinking way bigger. What are the chances he makes all NBA? We\u2019ve got a superstar in the making imo. What do you think?<\/p>\n
If he keeps up this level of production, I\u2019d say Deni Avdija has a decent chance to make an All-NBA team. The basic qualification is being one of the 15 best players in the league, right? In broad strokes, that means the lead players on around half the teams in the association have a shot, give or take a couple of overlapping candidates. (Hello, LeBron and Luka.) It\u2019s not impossible to envision voters thinking Deni is as good as the stars on half of the other NBA teams. I doubt he\u2019ll make first-team, but third is certainly within reach. Maybe more.<\/p>\n
As of now, Avdija ranks 13th in the NBA in scoring, the flashiest and most obvious stat under consideration. He\u2019s averaging 26.3 points per game. Let\u2019s assume he stays there. He\u2019s not going to crack the obvious MVP discussion centered around Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo (the latter two with asterisks that we\u2019ll talk about in a minute). Those spots are inviolable. But one can envision Avdija spoken among names like Jaylen Brown, Jalen Brunson, and Donovan Mitchell. He\u2019s about three points per game behind their averages, but among the Top 20 scorers, his suite of 7.2 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game is matched only by Detroit Pistons phenom Cade Cunningham and the ultra-elite players we just mentioned. That\u2019s heady company. Besides, the modern NBA loves stat-stuffing wings who can defend. Deni fits that bill exactly.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s always the old argument of \u201cbig scorer on a bad team, somebody\u2019s got to do it\u201d. If the Blazers fall off a cliff, that may hinder Avdija\u2019s case. But if they\u2019re in contention for a play-in spot\u2013let alone if they make the playoffs\u2013the narrative changes to, \u201cCarried a broken team on his back.\u201d At that point, his inclusion is all but assured. Watch Portland\u2019s record. Besides Avdija\u2019s stats, that\u2019s the best indicator of whether he\u2019ll make it or not.<\/p>\n
Having said all that, we may need to ask whether making an All-NBA team in 2026 is the achievement it once was. With the rash of injuries sweeping the league, the \u201c65 Game Rule\u201d is coming into play for many players. To combat teams \u201cload managing\u201d stars, the NBA instituted a policy back in 2023 declaring that any player who appears in fewer than 65 contests is ineligible for leaguewide awards. That includes All-NBA nominations. Some of the big-time candidates, including Jokic and Antetokounmpo, might not qualify for the honor this year.<\/p>\n
Much is made of the cost to the players involved, but having obvious MVP candidates like Jokic (averaging 30 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists per game) absent from the All-NBA rolls cheapens the honor for the other recipients. It\u2019s almost like you have two lists: the guys who officially qualified for All-NBA and the guys who were really the best players in the league. It\u2019s not unfair. Even as a Trail Blazers fan, if you could start your team with Joker or with Deni, which would you choose?<\/p>\n
If some of the bigger names don\u2019t get the award, there\u2019s going to be an asterisk by Avdija\u2019s name and everybody else who isn\u2019t immediately recognizable to the general public as a marquee player. It won\u2019t matter to Blazers fans or people in the know, but it\u2019s not entirely satisfying. Half the point of Avdija making the team is being listed alongside Giannis and Luka. When you play a music festival with Def Leppard and The Police, you\u2019ll talk about it to your children for years. If it\u2019s just your band, Bag o\u2019 Fritos, and Skeeter\u2019s Lumps, it\u2019s not the same even if those bands are objectively great.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t see a great solution to this other than maybe lowering the bar for qualification a bit? 65 games seems a little high. It\u2019s easy to envision an injury and a couple of nagging problems costing a player 17 games over the course of a season. Playing two-thirds of the schedule should be enough to qualify you for postseason awards. That works out to 55 games, not 65. Let\u2019s get real, I don\u2019t think the Nuggets are sitting Jokic one game more than they have to anyway. If a team is going to circumvent the system, awards aren\u2019t going to stop them. You might as well retain the basic idea while leaving a little more space for wear and tear on an athlete\u2019s body. That\u2019ll cover the majority of cases.<\/p>\n
I think it\u2019s possible to positively incentivize participation too. Why not recruit a company that wants to advertise the durability of their product to fund an Ironman Team, putting up sponsorship money to award the players who gave it all and endured each season? Qualifications would be 80 games, 20 minutes per. Any players who reached that threshold would be eligible to be named to the Ironman squad. Maybe the best five would split the majority of the sponsorship money (as the official Ironman Team) and everybody else would get a spiff. 19 players would have qualified last season. I don\u2019t think honoring a team of Mikal Bridges, Jalen Green, Jaden McDaniels, Jarrett Allen, and Ivica Zubac would be a bad thing. Nor is it horrible to get \u201cIronman\u201d appended to your description when you\u2019re negotiating your next contract.<\/p>\n
Anyway, circling back to the original question, especially with injuries taking otherwise-qualified players out, I do think Deni Avdija has a chance at making an All-NBA team this year. He\u2019s served enough poster material to opponents across the league to get his name noticed. If he does it, it\u2019ll be a big boon for him and for Portland\u2026well, until his contract comes up. Then the Blazers will (appropriately) pay big time for it. But that\u2019s a problem for another day. For now, take the award and run if you get it! It would be a nice coda to an interesting season.<\/p>\n