Dori Sahar remembers the moment in 10th grade when he realized that his basketball teammate Deni Avdija was different.

“We were playing together on the youth team for Maccabi Tel Aviv, and [he] got injured during the season and missed a few games,” recalled Sahar, who currently plays for Elitzur Netanya in Israel’s Winner League. “His first game back after the injury was the championship, the cup game, and he hadn’t practiced much before that. But he came in and dominated the game in a way I’d never seen before. I don’t remember his exact stat line, but it was something exceptional.”

“Before that, I knew he was a special player,” Sahar said. “But at that moment, I understood that he was different.”

On Sunday, Avdija’s 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.

It’s a pinnacle that the 6’8″ (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.

“I’ve been writing about basketball for 40 years, and I never imagined an Israeli would make it to that level,” said Gabriel Haydu, a reporter at Israel’s Sports Channel Sport5. “This is an incredible achievement.”

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.

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.

His success in the world’s 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.

Since he began playing in the US in 2020, die-hard Israeli fans have followed Avdija incessantly, staying up into the middle of the night to watch games, flying out to see him live, and even buying up his new line of high-protein ice cream branded with his nickname, Turbo.

After the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, in southern Israel, Avdija has offered quiet support for his homeland, including an emotional visit 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.

“A lot of people are looking for him to fail, for anything bad they can find,” Haydu said. “But I think he’s the best ambassador that Israel has right now.”

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.

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.

That pushed Avdija to work harder as his career developed, he said.

“I’m sure that if his parents were Israeli born and bred, Deni wouldn’t have gotten as good,” Haydu said. “Most 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.”

By the time he was 16, in 2017, Deni was good enough to play for Maccabi’s adult team, the youngest player ever to do so. He also continued playing with the under-20 team, leading it to four consecutive championships.

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.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, Avdija recalled “the worst practice of my life” when teammates mocked him for a hickey on his neck from his girlfriend.

“It all made me tough — like, really, really tough,” Avdija told the interviewer. “You know how you run a lot and your feet start to get thick skin on them? It was like that.”

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’s MVP as well.

As the 2020 draft approached, Avdija was considered not only one of the hottest international prospects, but a top pick overall.

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.

“Deni Avdija is… looking more and more like a lock to the Bulls at No. 4,” prognosticator Drew Packham wrote. “Nine of our 12 mocks see him going to Chicago, but if not, he’ll likely land in Cleveland at No. 5.”

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’s championship 2016 season.

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.

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 “steal of the draft.”

The Wizards weren’t a great match for Avdija’s 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.

“They weren’t interested in adjusting the team around him,” explained Moshe Halickman, an Israeli sports writer who has covered Avdija’s career. “At 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’t positioned to showcase his full potential.”

By Avdija’s 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.

But his play was inconsistent, and he was far from distinguishing himself as a star.

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.

“Honestly, I was in shock,” Deni told Sport5 at the time as he waited at the airport to fly to the other side of the US. “In my life, I’d never been traded. To wake up at 2 a.m. and find out that you are leaving Washington was maddening. It’s a home that you’ve built, friendships you’ve made, a crowd that you know and love. It’s a bit heartbreaking.”

The 2024-2025 season started out a bit slow in Portland, but in December, the Trail Blazers’ then-head coach Chauncey Billups realized that Avdija wasn’t making the best use of his speed and physical strength. He called the Israeli into his office and told him to start taking charge.

“Chauncey came up with the idea that when I grabbed the rebound, it was my time — just push it and go,” Avdija told The New York Times. “When I started to play like that, my confidence kind of got built up.”

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.

“To me, that’s the most inspiring thing out of all this,” said David Wiseman, a long-time fan who runs the Follow Team Israel account on social media. “Sometimes a person is talented, but they can’t excel because they are in the wrong environment or role. If Deni wasn’t given this second chance, the world would have never seen him shine.”

In the offseason that summer, Avdija played for the Israeli team at the Eurobasket tournament, leading 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.

During the first half of the 2025-2026 season, Avdija has been nothing short of electrifying so far, with three triple-doubles 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 nagging back injury.

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’s Most Improved Player award.

The Times of Israel reached out to Avdija via the Trail Blazers and his agent, but did not receive a reply.

The US sports site The Ringer ranks Avdija the 17th-best player in the NBA, ahead of such stars as LeBron James and Joel Embiid, after starting the year ranked 53rd.

He’s 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.

“I’m going to say thank you and not take it for granted,” Avdija told the New York Times about his salary. “It’s still a lot of money.”

He’s also developed a reputation as one of the better-dressed players in the league.

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.

“It’s emotional for me for sure.” ❤️ Deni reflects on finding out he’s been named an All-Star for the first time in his career. pic.twitter.com/uo6NxGiqya — Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) February 2, 2026

“It’s emotional for me for sure.” ❤️

Deni reflects on finding out he’s been named an All-Star for the first time in his career. pic.twitter.com/uo6NxGiqya

— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) February 2, 2026

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.

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.

“I’m proud,” a visibly emotional Avdija said quietly in a TV interview following the announcement that he had made the team earlier this month. “I just remember the journey I’ve come along with. I started playing basketball without a dream and just pursued it to see where it would take me. It’s emotional for me, for sure.”

Blue and white on the parquet

Being selected as an All-Star has raised Avdija’s public profile, and with it, the amount of hatred that he receives online.

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.

Deni, every time you step onto the court, our country beams with pride. For the People of Israel you aren’t just any star, you are OUR Star of David! pic.twitter.com/R5xKMGegEi — Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) February 2, 2026

every time you step onto the court, our country beams with pride.

For the People of Israel you aren’t just any star, you are OUR Star of David! pic.twitter.com/R5xKMGegEi

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) February 2, 2026

The premier’s 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.

“Israeli celebrities like Avdija and actress Gal Gadot have a ‘soft power’ to win people’s hearts and minds and subtly change or influence public opinion in a non-frontal way,” Press-Barnathan said. “However, 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 ‘kills the cool’ and torpedoes the message. But it’s a very difficult balance to maintain, because there’s a lot of pressure from the Israeli public to speak out.”

For the most part, Avdija has managed to quietly honor his Israeli roots through subtle, personal gestures — such as inscriptions on his sneakers or heartfelt social media tributes — while keeping his formal public discourse strictly centered on the game.

That’s why Haydu thinks Avdija has been Israel’s “best ambassador ever.”

“He’s a great sportsman, he’s very humble, he speaks fluent English, and people identify with him during this important and incredibly difficult time for Israel and Jews in general,” Haydu said. “He is doing a very good job of representing us.”

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.

“You don’t have to love what I stand for or how I look, but if I’m a good player, give props. All this hate… for no reason,” Avdija said. “I’ll 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’s what pisses me off.”

Trolls mocked his statements incessantly online, even though everything he said was very reasonable, Haydu noted.

“I know for sure that Deni really loves Israel and cares about what’s happening,” he said. “He 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’s clearly something that is important to him.”

He has been less involved with Portland’s Jewish community, making few appearances apart from a cameo after a game during Hanukkah, a representative from the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland noted.

But Avdija is no longer the lone Israeli in the NBA. In 2025, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf were selected 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.)

“With the growing number of players there, it seems like Israel is doing something right,” Wiseman said. “I think their efforts will help more players to follow in these footsteps in the future.”

For now, Israelis, including Avdija’s old teammates, are waiting to see what heights he will yet reach.

“The most beautiful thing about Deni is the way he plays,” Sahar, his old high school teammate, said. “He has a great mentality in the way he thinks about winning, about helping his team, about involving other players. He’s a good person who loves signing fans’ jerseys and connecting with people. He’s not taking his All-Star selection for granted.”

“After all his success,” Sahar said, “he’s still the same Deni we knew.”

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