Deni Avdija

Deni Avdija was born on January 3, 2001, on kibbutz Beit Zera in the Jordan Valley. His mother, Sharon Artzi, is a former track athlete and basketball player from the kibbutz. His father, Zufer Avdija, born in Pristina to a Gorani family, captained Red Star Belgrade, won bronze with Yugoslavia at the 1982 World Championship and played eight seasons in Israel.

Deni played soccer until fourth grade, when a friend talked him into basketball because of his height. He started at Bnei Herzliya and joined Maccabi Tel Aviv's youth program in 2013, winning three straight national youth titles.

He signed a professional contract with Maccabi in November 2017 and made his Israeli league debut on November 19, aged 16 years and 320 days, the youngest player in the senior team's history. His EuroLeague debut came in November 2018, at 17.

The 2019-20 season was the breakthrough: 12.9 points and 6.3 rebounds a game in the league, a dunk over Luigi Datome voted the EuroLeague Magic Moment of the Season, and a third straight title. At 19 he became the youngest MVP in Israeli league history.

Avdija was also eligible to play for Serbia and chose Israel. In 2018 he led Israel's U20 team to gold at the European Championship in Germany, then did it again in 2019 in Tel Aviv, averaging 18.4 points and 8.3 rebounds and winning tournament MVP.

He debuted for the senior team on February 21, 2019, in an 81-77 win over Germany. At EuroBasket 2022 he opened with 23 points and 15 rebounds in a win over Finland.

Washington drafted him ninth overall in 2020. After a rookie season cut short by an ankle fracture, he played all 82 games in 2021-22 and improved every year.

In October 2023 he signed a four-year, $55 million extension, and in 2023-24 he set career bests in every major category: 14.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists a game. On February 14, 2024 he set a career high with 43 points against New Orleans.

On July 6, 2024 he was traded to Portland in a deal that sent Malcolm Brogdon, Bub Carrington and draft picks to Washington. He posted his first triple-double on March 2, 2025 and averaged 23.4 points that month.

The 2025-26 season made him a star: 24.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.7 assists a game, his first Western Conference Player of the Week award in January and a 41-point night against Houston. On February 1, 2026 he was named a Western Conference All-Star reserve, the first Israeli player selected to the game.

In April he scored 41 points with 12 assists in a 114-110 Play-In win at Phoenix that sent Portland to the playoffs as the seventh seed. He averaged 22.2 points in the first-round series against San Antonio and finished third in Most Improved Player voting.

His nickname is "Turbo", for his fast drives and aggressive style. In November 2025 he launched Turbo, a protein ice cream brand.

Avdija holds Israeli and Serbian citizenship. In April 2020, with the season paused by the pandemic, he was drafted into the IDF with Exceptional Athlete status. He has said he learned English from video games and Nickelodeon sitcoms.