\u201cBefore that, I knew he was a special player,\u201d Sahar said. \u201cBut at that moment, I understood that he was different.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Avdija\u2019s exceptionalism will be on display once again when he takes the court in southern California, becoming the first-ever Israeli to play in the NBA All-Star Game. Six years after being drafted by the Washington Wizards, the former Maccabi Tel Aviv phenom is in the midst of a breakout year for the Portland Trail Blazers that has seen him emerge as one of the top talents on the hardwood.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a pinnacle that the 6\u20198\u2033 (203 cm) Avdija, born on a small kibbutz in northern Israel, achieved through humility, a driving work ethic, natural talent, and some luck being in the right place at the right time, sports analysts told The Times of Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been writing about basketball for 40 years, and I never imagined an Israeli would make it to that level,\u201d said Gabriel Haydu, a reporter at Israel\u2019s Sports Channel Sport5. \u201cThis is an incredible achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AFP__20260202__2259480540__v3__HighRes__ClevelandCavaliersVPortlandTrailBlazers-640x400.jpg\")
\n\t\tDeni Avdija looks on during warmups before game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Moda Center on February 1, 2026 (Soobum Im \/ Getty Images via AFP)<\/p>\n
After struggling for his first several years in the NBA, Avdija is having a banner season as the leading scorer for the Trail Blazers, averaging 25.5 points, 6.7 assists and 7.2 rebounds per game.<\/p>\n
He will come off the bench for Team World at the All-Star Game on Sunday, after finishing seventh in All-Star voting for the Western Conference with over 2.2 million votes, ahead of legends like LeBron James and Kevin Durant.<\/p>\n
His success in the world\u2019s top basketball league has made him the darling of many Israelis, even as he receives a constant stream of online hatred from anti-Israel protesters.<\/p>\n
\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP26008213872616-1024x640.jpg\")
\n\t\tPortland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija, center, celebrates during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets in Portland, Oregon, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP \/Craig Mitchelldyer)<\/p>\n
Since he began playing in the US in 2020, die-hard Israeli fans have followed Avdija incessantly, staying up<\/a> into the middle of the night to watch games, flying out<\/a> to see him live, and even buying up his new line of high-protein ice cream<\/a> branded with his nickname, Turbo.<\/p>\n After the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, in southern Israel, Avdija has offered quiet support for his homeland, including an emotional visit<\/a> with evacuees in June 2024, even as he struggles to balance a professional need to remain apolitical with the responsibility he feels toward his people.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people are looking for him to fail, for anything bad they can find,\u201d Haydu said. \u201cBut I think he\u2019s the best ambassador that Israel has right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Early sparks<\/p>\n Avdija, 25, began his career with many of the tools he would need for sports stardom. His father Zufer Avdija was a captain of the Yugoslavian national basketball team in the early 1980s and a legendary figure in Israeli basketball during the 90s. His mother, Sharon, had grown up in Kibbutz Beit Zera and made a name for herself in Israeli athletics as a champion runner.<\/p>\n After initially taking an interest in soccer as a kid, Avdija started playing basketball on the youth team of Maccabi Tel Aviv at age 12. Despite his pedigree, Avdija was stigmatized due to having a non-Israeli father, who himself could be critical and unsupportive, Haydu noted.<\/p>\n \t That pushed Avdija to work harder as his career developed, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure that if his parents were Israeli born and bred, Deni wouldn\u2019t have gotten as good,\u201d Haydu said. \u201cMost Israeli kids in his position would have enjoyed the early recognition he was getting and stopped trying hard. It was this mentality of being an outsider that drove him to push hard at the gym all day.\u201d<\/p>\n \t By the time he was 16, in 2017, Deni was good enough to play for Maccabi\u2019s adult team, the youngest player ever to do so. He also continued playing with the under-20 team, leading it to four consecutive championships<\/a>.<\/p>\n But that led to much greater pressure and scrutiny, and Avdija would later describe those years as emotionally draining. Veteran players would target the new kid with bumps and elbows, and older teammates and coaches pushed him relentlessly.<\/p>\n In a recent interview<\/a> with The New York Times, Avdija recalled \u201cthe worst practice of my life\u201d when teammates mocked him for a hickey on his neck from his girlfriend.<\/p>\n \u201cIt all made me tough \u2014 like, really, really tough,\u201d Avdija told the interviewer. \u201cYou know how you run a lot and your feet start to get thick skin on them? It was like that.\u201d<\/p>\n By his last year in Israel, it was clear that Avdija was playing on a different level from the rest of the league, despite his relative youth. Leading Maccabi Tel Aviv to its third straight championship, he was named the youngest-ever league MVP. He also led Israel to its second consecutive gold medal in the 2019 FIBA U20 European Championship, and was named that tournament\u2019s MVP as well.<\/p>\n \t As the 2020 draft approached, Avdija was considered not only one of the hottest international prospects, but a top pick overall.<\/p>\n NBA hard knocks<\/p>\n Early on the morning of November 18, 2020, NBA.com published the last of an endless parade of mock drafts, attempting to game which player would be selected by which team later that night in the COVID-delayed selection rite.<\/p>\n \u201cDeni Avdija\u00a0is\u2026 looking more and more like a lock to the Bulls at No. 4,\u201d prognosticator Drew Packham wrote. \u201cNine of our 12 mocks see him going to Chicago, but if not, he\u2019ll likely land in Cleveland at No. 5.\u201d<\/p>\n \t The Cleveland Cavaliers may have been a fitting choice for an Israeli cager. Omri Casspi, who became the first-ever Israeli to be drafted in the NBA in 2009, had spent two largely uneventful years there in 2012 and 2013. A role player who stayed in the league for a decade, Casspi had still been a source of pride for Israelis unaccustomed to seeing one of their own play at that level. The Cavs had also been home to Israeli-American coach David Blatt in 2015 and for the start of the team\u2019s championship 2016 season.<\/p>\n A few others with Israeli citizenship had bounced around the league in the 2010s, none of them standouts. Avdija was touted as something else: an Israeli basketballer with the stuff to be a bona fide threat on the court.<\/p>\n Despite the hype, though, the Cavs and Bulls both passed on the forward. When the Washington Wizards finally took Avdija at No. 9, he was labeled the \u201csteal of the draft.\u201d<\/p>\n \t The Wizards weren\u2019t a great match for Avdija\u2019s talents, though. He scored an unimpressive 6.3 points per game in his first season, and by his third season was still at a middling 9.2 PPG.<\/p>\n \u201cThey weren\u2019t interested in adjusting the team around him,\u201d explained Moshe Halickman, an Israeli sports writer who has covered Avdija\u2019s career. \u201cAt that time, the team was based around two stars, Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal, and Deni was mainly sent to stand in the corner and shoot three-pointers. He started making his name in the league as a good defender, and he showed some minor improvements every year, but he was basically a role player who wasn\u2019t positioned to showcase his full potential.\u201d<\/p>\n By Avdija\u2019s fourth season, the Wizards had a much weaker lineup, and Avdija was given more of a chance to shine. He averaged 14.7 PPG that year and showed flashes of All-Star caliber skills, including a career-high 43-point, 15-rebound masterpiece on February 14, 2024, against New Orleans.<\/p>\n But his play was inconsistent, and he was far from distinguishing himself as a star.<\/p>\n \t During the off-season that summer, Avdija got a jolt. Washington traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers for Malcolm Brogdon and several upcoming draft picks. When the news dropped overnight, his father Zufer came into his room to wake him up.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, I was in shock,\u201d Deni told Sport5 at the time<\/a> as he waited at the airport to fly to the other side of the US. \u201cIn my life, I\u2019d never been traded. To wake up at 2 a.m. and find out that you are leaving Washington was maddening. It\u2019s a home that you\u2019ve built, friendships you\u2019ve made, a crowd that you know and love. It\u2019s a bit heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n West Coast offense<\/p>\n The 2024-2025 season started out a bit slow in Portland, but in December, the Trail Blazers\u2019 then-head coach Chauncey Billups realized that Avdija wasn\u2019t making the best use of his speed and physical strength. He called the Israeli into his office and told him to start taking charge.<\/p>\n \u201cChauncey came up with the idea that when I grabbed the rebound, it was my time \u2014 just push it and go,\u201d Avdija told The New York Times. \u201cWhen I started to play like that, my confidence kind of got built up.\u201d<\/p>\n Avdija was off and running, and looked like he had become a totally new player. Now he was playing aggressively, driving on transition plays, setting up teammates, and scoring. In March and April, Avdija posted two triple-doubles and averaged more than 25 PPG. In six of his last 13 games of the season, he netted at least 30 points each.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, that\u2019s the most inspiring thing out of all this,\u201d said David Wiseman, a long-time fan who runs the Follow Team Israel<\/a> account on social media. \u201cSometimes a person is talented, but they can\u2019t excel because they are in the wrong environment or role. If Deni wasn\u2019t given this second chance, the world would have never seen him shine.\u201d<\/p>\n \t In the offseason that summer, Avdija played for the Israeli team at the Eurobasket tournament, leading<\/a> Israel to its first appearance in a decade in the round of 16. While the team lost to a Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Greece, Avdija won high praise from the NBA legend following the game, and the scene was set for his breakout year.<\/p>\n During the first half of the 2025-2026 season, Avdija has been nothing short of electrifying so far, with three triple-doubles<\/a> and a masterful 41-point game against Houston on January 7. On Sunday, he came within two assists of his fourth triple-double as he returned from a four-game absence caused by a\u00a0nagging back injury.<\/a><\/p>\n As of Tuesday, he ranked 14th in the league in points per game, 13th in assists and 11th in efficiency, and is considered a front-runner for the league\u2019s Most Improved Player award.<\/p>\n The Times of Israel reached out to Avdija via the Trail Blazers and his agent, but did not receive a reply.<\/p>\n The US sports site The Ringer ranks<\/a> Avdija the 17th-best player in the NBA, ahead of such stars as LeBron James and Joel Embiid, after starting the year ranked 53rd.<\/p>\n \t He\u2019s on the second year of a four-year, $55 million contract he signed with the Wizards, making him one of the lowest-paid players in the All-Star Game.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to say thank you and not take it for granted,\u201d Avdija told the New York Times<\/a> about his salary. \u201cIt\u2019s still a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s also developed a reputation as one of the better-dressed<\/a> players in the league.<\/p>\n Avdija finished fifth in the all-star fan vote, partially thanks to an aggressive balloting campaign by Israel supporters, but failed to win enough support from fellow players and media to win a spot as a starter and was instead selected as a reserve.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s emotional for me for sure.\u201d \u2764\ufe0f<\/p>\n Deni reflects on finding out he\u2019s been named an All-Star for the first time in his career. pic.twitter.com\/uo6NxGiqya<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) February 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n He will come off the bench for Team World, made up exclusively of international players, who will compete against two teams of Americans in a round-robin tournament. The format is a new innovation meant to inject fresh interest in the game after years of lackluster play by unmotivated stars sapped enthusiasm for the exhibition.<\/p>\n Yet even if the gameplay is subpar, just being on the court is still considered a major achievement and recognition of a player as among the best in the game.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m proud,\u201d a visibly emotional Avdija said quietly in a TV interview following the announcement that he had made the team earlier this month. \u201cI just remember the journey I\u2019ve come along with. I started playing basketball without a dream and just pursued it to see where it would take me. It\u2019s emotional for me, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n Blue and white on the parquet<\/p>\n Being selected as an All-Star has raised Avdija\u2019s public profile, and with it, the amount of hatred that he receives online.<\/p>\n After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated him on his selection, X users exploded with a barrage of comments accusing him of killing children and committing genocide in Gaza, neither of which he did during the several months he served in the IDF in noncombat service before the 2020 NBA draft.<\/p>\n Deni, <\/p>\n every time you step onto the court, our country beams with pride. <\/p>\n For the People of Israel you aren\u2019t just any star, you are OUR Star of David! pic.twitter.com\/R5xKMGegEi<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Benjamin Netanyahu \u2013 \u05d1\u05e0\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05df \u05e0\u05ea\u05e0\u05d9\u05d4\u05d5 (@netanyahu) February 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The premier\u2019s post illustrated the tension that many successful Israelis experience when their personal achievements are turned into political statements, noted Prof. Galia Press-Barnathan, director of the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations at Hebrew University.<\/p>\n \u201cIsraeli celebrities like Avdija and actress Gal Gadot have a \u2018soft power\u2019 to win people\u2019s hearts and minds and subtly change or influence public opinion in a non-frontal way,\u201d Press-Barnathan said. \u201cHowever, they face a paradox: Once they begin actively working as a representative of the country, or the government steps in and takes credit for their success, it sort of \u2018kills the cool\u2019 and torpedoes the message. But it\u2019s a very difficult balance to maintain, because there\u2019s a lot of pressure from the Israeli public to speak out.\u201d<\/p>\n For the most part, Avdija has managed to quietly honor his Israeli roots through subtle, personal gestures \u2014 such as inscriptions on his sneakers<\/a> or heartfelt social media tributes \u2014 while keeping his formal public discourse strictly centered on the game.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why Haydu thinks Avdija has been Israel\u2019s \u201cbest ambassador ever.\u201d<\/p>\n \t \u201cHe\u2019s a great sportsman, he\u2019s very humble, he speaks fluent English, and people identify with him during this important and incredibly difficult time for Israel and Jews in general,\u201d Haydu said. \u201cHe is doing a very good job of representing us.\u201d<\/p>\n Avdija has learned that anything he says can be misquoted or taken out of context, Haydu said. A case in point is his recent NY Times interview, when some statements he made about the criticism he faces went viral on anti-Israel discussion groups.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t have to love what I stand for or how I look, but if I\u2019m a good player, give props. All this hate\u2026 for no reason,\u201d Avdija said. \u201cI\u2019ll be honest: What do people expect me to do? This is my country, where I was born, where I grew up. I love my country; there are a lot of great things about my country. But obviously, not everyone is educated and knows what is going on, and that\u2019s what pisses me off.\u201d<\/p>\n \t Trolls mocked his statements incessantly online, even though everything he said was very reasonable, Haydu noted.<\/p>\n \u201cI know for sure that Deni really loves Israel and cares about what\u2019s happening,\u201d he said. \u201cHe spent hours of his time meeting people evacuated from the south, and always spends time with Israelis, including hostages and their families, who come and visit him in the States. It\u2019s clearly something that is important to him.\u201d<\/p>\n He has been less involved with Portland\u2019s Jewish community, making few appearances apart from a cameo after a game during Hanukkah, a representative from the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland noted.<\/p>\n But Avdija is no longer the lone Israeli in the NBA. In 2025, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf were selected<\/a> back-to-back in the first round by the Brooklyn Nets, marking the first time two Israelis were drafted in the same year, let alone by the same franchise. (Wolf, a college standout, was born and raised in the US but holds Israeli citizenship.)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-02-05-at-10.18.49-PM-1024x640.jpeg\")
\n\t\tDeni Avdija, right, and teammate Dori Sahar playing together for Maccabi Tel Aviv, circa 2019 (Seffi Magriso)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-02-01-at-1.55.10-PM-300x480.jpeg\")
\n\t\tIsrael Sports reporter Gabriel Haydu (Courtesy)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/F190724MISPOOL07-640x400.jpg\")
\n\t\tPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Deni Avdija after the Israel youth basketball team\u2019s victory at the FIBA European Championships, at the Prime Minister\u2019s Office on July 24, 2019 (Marc Israel Sellem\/POOL)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP281193435100-e1428476256830-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tSacramento Kings forward Omri Casspi drives to the basket between Minnesota Timberwolves players during the second half of an NBA game in Sacramento, California, on April 7, 2015. (Rich Pedroncelli\/AP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP_21002066933912-e1609566072258-1024x640.jpg\")
\n\t\tWashington Wizards forward Deni Avdija (9) dives for the ball next to Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game Jan. 1, 2021, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo\/Andy Clayton-King)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP24046147085063-640x400.jpg\")
\n\t\tWashington Wizards forward Deni Avdija (8) grabs a rebound against New Orleans Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado (15) during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Washington Wizards in New Orleans, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024. (AP Photo\/Matthew Hinton)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_5958-1-e1741612593106-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tFan Lavi Kirel waves an Israeli flag as basketball player Deni Avdija takes a free throw during a March 3 game in Philadelphia. (Jon Marks\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP26006202118978-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tPortland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija (8) gives a thumbs up following a win over the Utah Jazz in an NBA basketball game, Jan. 5, 2026, in Portland, Oregon. (AP Photo\/Molly J. Smith)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screen-Shot-2021-04-08-at-21.43.13-e1617907460212-640x400.jpeg\")
\n\t\t\u201cYizkor\u201d is seen written on Washington Wizards player Deni Avdija\u2019s shoe, for Israel\u2019s Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 7, 2021. (Screen capture: Twitter)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AFP__20260202__2259480510__v3__HighRes__ClevelandCavaliersVPortlandTrailBlazers-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tDeni Avdija of the Portland Trail Blazers signs an autograph for a basketball fan before a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Moda Center on February 01, 2026 (Soobum Im \/ Getty Images via AFP)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP26031117674715-640x400.jpg\")
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