The Atlanta Hawks trading Trae Young to the Washington Wizards without receiving any draft capital in return shows just how little the league values these offensive stars who are major defensive liabilities. But it's not black-and-white: many stars are forced to expend so much of their energy on the offensive end, compromising their defense in the process. That's been the case for Portland Trail Blazers rising star Deni Avdija.
Despite this, Avdija is still a neutral defender while taking on such a massive offensive workload. On the Game Theory Podcast, Sam Vecenie said that Avdija is average defensively and that his drop-off on that end has been greatly exaggerated.
"I thought Deni was a really high-level defender in Washington. To be honest, I thought he was pretty good last year in Portland," Vecenie said. "I think he's an average defender now. I don't want to sit here and say he's a terrible defender. I think he's fine on defense. He's a pretty neutral defender now, when previously he was a plus defender."
Deni Avdija's defensive regression has been overblown
Avdija is currently tied with Shaedon Sharpe for the sixth-best defensive rating (117.0) on Portland's roster this year. That's worse than last season (113.5), which is to be expected when considering how much of the heavy lifting he's had to do on offense, particularly with key backcourt pieces sidelined.
This season, Avdija is averaging a career high in both points (26.1) and assists (6.9), with a 28.7% usage rate. He also ranks in the top ten in the association in potential assists (14.3), showcasing the level of responsibility he's had as a primary offensive initiator for Portland.
With Avdija playing in all 40 of Portland's games, he's also leading the entire NBA in total minutes at 1,414.3. This is all to say that it's understandable his defensive impact would take a dip, as something has to give.
Fortunately for Portland, Avdija has already proven previously in his career that he's able to make more of a two-way impact with his combination of athleticism and positional size at 6-foot-8, giving him that positional versatility that teams covet. As the Blazers roster gets better, through players recovering from injury, the internal development of their young core, and any external moves they might make, Avdija won't have to take on so much of the offensive burden. When that finally does happen, he'll be able to go back to being that two-way force he was.
That's the difference between stars like Trae Young and Deni Avdija. One can never become a positive defender due to being so undersized. The other has already proven he has that trait -- it's still there, it's just not what Portland requires from him at this particular moment.
Even with that being the case, any narrative about Avdija being one of these one-dimensional stars has become completely overblown. His impact may have decreased on that side of the ball, but he's still a fine defender overall.
And considering how much he provides on the offensive end with a well-rounded game, the Blazers are more than happy to make that tradeoff.