The latest round of All-Star voting has been released, and it confirms that Deni Avdija is still better than LeBron James and Kevin Durant. The numbers don't lie, and if you dispute this claim, you're anti-math.
Okay, that's dramatic. Deni, despite his brilliant play this year, might not be as good as Kevin Durant. But the Blazers' star is currently No. 7 in All-Star voting among Western Conference players, ahead of both Durant (No. 9) and James (No. 8). He trails six guys who have numerous All-NBA selections, including Steph Curry, Nikola Jokic, and Victor Wembanyama, so it's hard to complain about Deni's spot on this list right now, even for the biggest Blazers fans.
In fact, it's pretty wild to see Deni's name among the biggest stars in the league, and even wilder that it's well-deserved. Because it is well-deserved. Avdija is as important to his team as pretty much any other star is to theirs. He might be more important to the Blazers than Durant is to the Rockets, honestly. I can say that here because it's a Blazers blog. Please don't repeat that to your Rockets fan friends, though.
Deni Avdija is a legitimate All-Star
You can talk about foul baiting all you want and you can talk about how crazy it is for Deni to have more votes than some of the best players ever. But at the end of the day, Avdija is averaging 27/7/7 as the No. 1 option on a competitive team in the Western Conference.
That is pretty clearly the resume of an All-Star — and not too far from the resume of an All-NBA caliber player. He passes both the statistical deep-dive test and the eye test with flying colors. In the face of injuries to the Blazers' second and third-best players, Avdija has simply upped his volume and become a star.
Yeah, he shoots a lot of free throws. He also drives more than anyone else in the NBA. Getting to the free throw line is a skill in the modern NBA. I don't think it's that fun to watch, either! But he keeps getting fouled!
If Avdija makes the All-Star game after all, he'll be the first Blazer since 2022-23 to do so, and he'll be the first Blazer not named Damian Lillard to achieve that honor since Lamarcus Aldridge did in 2014-15. That's over a decade! Dame was a mainstay in the ASG, and to have a new Blazer represent PDX will be really cool to see — even if the game itself remains unwatchable.
It's a new era of Blazers basketball, and there are a few guys on this team with enough upside to make an All-Star game themself one day. But it looks like Deni is going to break the seal for the new generation of Blazers.