New Trail Blazer Deni Avdija: 'We're Going to Have a Lot of Fun'

📍 TUALATIN, Ore. — Deni Avdija did not expect to be traded.

Less than a year after signing a four-year, $55 million extension with the Washington Wizards, the team that drafted him, and coming off a career year, he thought he was a part of what their new front-office regime would be building.

So it caught him off guard when on draft night, on the other side of the world, he got an alert on his phone that he’d been traded to the Trail Blazers.

“Woj bomb,” he joked on Monday.

“I think they really love me,” Avdija said of his former team on Monday, speaking to reporters for the first time since the trade became official over the weekend. “I’ve done a lot for that organization. It was just not the timeline, I guess. I gave whatever I could on the floor, but that’s part of the business. I feel like we had beautiful years, but now I’m in a different place and trying to get the best I can.”

Once the shock of the trade wore off, and he got to Portland and started getting introduced to his new organization, he decided this fresh start was what he needed.

“I’m very excited,” he said. “They’ve welcomed me very well, so it’s a good start. I’m glad to be in a place where people embrace me and love me. I’m going to bring my competitiveness, and we’re going to have a lot of fun.”

Blazers general manager Joe Cronin targeted the 23-year-old Avdija as a two-way wing on the same age timeline as their other young pieces, including Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe. The No. 9 overall pick in the 2020 draft, Avdija has steadily gotten better every year and even got Most Improved Player votes this past season.

“My journey hasn’t been easy,” he said. “It was never easy. I was never given gifts. I always worked hard for the things I accomplished. Since I came to the league, it’s been a tough ride. I’ve played with some really competitive players and my role has expanded through the years, but I honestly feel like I’ve fought for every minute, every chance I got to get the ball. It brought me here.”

One of the things Avdija prides himself on—and something that’s been eluding the Blazers the past couple of seasons—is durability. In each of the past three seasons, he’s played at least 75 games, including all 82 in his second season in 2021-22. No Blazer last season 72. He wants to keep that streak going in Portland.

“Every day, I’m in the gym and the weight room, trying to get my body right,” he said. “It’s really important for me. I want to be there for the team in every game possible. I played 82 games one year and I’m going to try to do it again.”

Avdija’s shooting in particular took a massive jump in his fourth season. After shooting 30.9 percent from three-point range through his first three seasons, he shot 37.4 percent from deep last year while logging the highest usage of his career on a rebuilding Wizards team. He says that jump in his shooting was more psychological than it was physical, and he’s confident it will carry over.

“I didn’t change it,” he said. “I’ve really worked on the mental side of shooting and understanding that I’m a good shooter. I worked the whole summer focusing on the shot and making sure I was confident in it. I’m not overthinking it anymore.”

Most of the time, players of Avdija’s caliber who are traded from rebuilding teams look forward to life with a contender. In this case, he’s going from a team at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings to a team that figures to be near the bottom of the Western Conference standings. Even if it doesn’t happen right away, he expects to be a part of the Blazers’ turnaround, whenever it comes.

“I understand that in the NBA, patience is a big part of it,” he said. “I’ve seen teams that weren’t good and now are top of the league. I really believe this group can get there. And also, I was making sure that all the losing wouldn’t get to me so much. I know we weren’t in a really good spot as far as the seed, but just come in, don’t look at the record, play as hard as you can and compete to win. To me, every win last year, even though we didn’t win that much, was big time. I’m trying to continue that culture here as well.”