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Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion presented Israeli NBA star Deni Avdija with the "Jerusalem Ambassador in the Diaspora" award during a gala evening, which concluded the "Coming to Jerusalem" real estate fair in Manhattan on Thursday.
Lion praised Avdija for representing the State of Israel as a public figure in the US and for bringing pride to Jews and Israelis worldwide. "Deni Avdija is not only an extraordinary athlete, first and foremost, he is an ambassador at heart and in spirit for the State of Israel and our values," Lion said.
Masai Ujiri made his first big move last week, when the Mavericks hired Mike Schmitz as general manager. Schmitz got his start working for the independent scouting service DraftExpress. He was an ESPN analyst for five years and then became the Portland Trail Blazers assistant general manager in 2022. Although Portland’s draft success was mixed in Schmitz’s four years there, he helped drive the decision to trade for Deni Avdija, who was named an All-Star this past season. “I’ve known him for many, many years,” Ujiri said of Schmitz. “Incredible scout. Incredible leader. Just digs deep into work, data and what you want to know about: really scouting players, team building, all those things, you know? Treating people well. Staff organizing. Managing people. It’s a whole package.”
Sean Highkin: Deni Avdija on back issues: "I can say it's behind me. It was frustrating because it was lingering. You have to reinvent yourself and understand how you move more efficiently."
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Sean Highkin: Deni Avdija on playing next to Damian Lillard next year: "Me and Dame had conversations throughout the year. He has a lot of things we need. We both have mutual goals and we love each other's games. I think we can do great things together, for sure."
Sean Highkin: Deni Avdija: "That experience was needed for me, and as a team, to fight together and see how it is with playoff physicality. I had a lot of fun. We left it all on the court. You've got to stay resilient and do it together."
Tom Orsborn: Splitter on the Castle-Avdija dustup: "Both teams playing very physical. I just thought that what Castle did was a little excessive and too much and then Deni just reacted, which is normal when you're trying to play and you try to win. I don't think it's a big deal."
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As the crew analyzed the Blazers’ best-of-seven series against the San Antonio Spurs in the opening round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs, presented by Google, Barkley drew a striking parallel between the Israeli star Deni Avdija and the late Hall of Famer Drazen Petrovic. “Drazen Petrovic is one of the best players I’ve ever seen from an offensive, aggressive standpoint,” he noted, emphasizing the specific mental shift he sees in Avdija’s game. “Let me tell you something, he wants to score every single time. He’s going straight, he ain’t deviating off that line, and he ain’t going around you, he ain’t going left. He’s like, ‘Hey, I’m going right to the basket.’”
Spurs guard Stephon Castle downplayed his late-game dustup with All-Star guard Deni Avdija in Sunday's 114-93 win over the Trail Blazers in Game 4 of the first-round playoff series. "We're just competing," Castle said. "Nothing crazy."
NBA Courtside: Deni Avdija on the Castle altercation 👀 “I have a lot of respect for him but the thing at the end with shoving the ball in my chest is unnecessary. I don’t play those games. That not who I am. You can be physical but there’s a level of disrespect I’m not going to accept. He’s done a lot of provocation throughout the whole game. At one point it was just disrespectful”
