TEL AVIV, ISRAEL -- As Deni Avdija converted a tournament-clinching and-1 with 32.5 seconds left, the 18-year-old strutted toward his opponents' bench with close to 4,000 fans in a frenzy. First ...

LOS ANGELES — Two weekends ago, Deni Avdija needed a lift. Russell Westbrook provided it. On Dec. 4, Westbrook’s Los Angeles Lakers trounced Avdija’s Washington Wizards in a game more ...

When the Portland Trail Blazers gave up four draft picks for Deni Avdija last summer, it seemed like an overpay. Avdija, the league’s only Israeli-born player, was coming off a breakout fourth ...

Oren Manor likes to boast that he was a Deni Avdija fan before it was cool. Manor, an Israeli sportswriter, has been following Avdija since he was a 16-year-old playing in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s ...

Deni Avdija started his professional career at the tender age of 16 in the Israeli League for team Maccabi Tel Aviv. Then at the age of 17, Avdija would play his first EuroLeague game.

Deni Avdija #8 of the Portland Trail Blazers reacts in the final minutes of their 127-113 win over the Atlanta Hawks during the fourth quarter at State Farm Arena on April 01, 2025 in Atlanta ...

Deni Avdija of the Portland Trail Blazers reacts in the final minutes of a 127-113 win over the Atlanta Hawks on April 1, 2025. (photo credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) ...

WASHINGTON — Deni Avdija was standing on the court at Capital One Arena Wednesday night just before the pregame national anthem when Kristaps Porzingis turned to him. “I need ‘Turbo ...

Avdija’s season, however, is no joke — and neither is the Deni-mania sweeping Israel. For a nation at war, grappling with a hostage crisis and riven by protests, the success of a hometown boy ...