The Portland Trail Blazers are the only team in the league without a player averaging at least 18 points a game. Their leading scorer, Shaedon Sharpe, currently sits just shy at 17.9. Their ten wins before 2025 are a testament to their depth and quality of role players. But more than anything, it signals that it will be an uphill battle to make the playoffs until they land a clear-cut star on their roster.
The expert consensus heading into the season was that the veteran Jerami Grant was Portland's best player. Four out of five major outlets—ESPN, The Ringer, CBS Sports, Action Network, and HoopsHype—had Grant as the top player, yet still with just an average ranking of 78th in the league.
By his standards, Grant has struggled so far in 2024-25. His scoring is down to 15.0 points compared to 21.0 points last year, and his field goal efficiency has also dipped to 38.1 percent from 45.1 percent. That's concerning, as a knock on him throughout his career is that he doesn't provide much outside of scoring with his rebounding and playmaking.
Grant's down year opens the door for another Blazers player to take over the unofficial title of "best player." Eventually, it could belong to Sharpe or Scoot Henderson, who are coming off strong performances in their thrilling 122-120 win over the Utah Jazz. But while they can shine on any given night, their inconsistency keeps them from being reliable options in this role at this stage in their respective careers.
Deni Avdija is starting to look like the Blazers’ best player
Instead, the title shifts to a player currently coming off the bench—Deni Avdija. Ranked No. 100 by Action Network, Avdija was the only other player to receive a vote for the Blazers' best player entering the season as Grant went unranked.
That looks more accurate by the day, especially as Avdija gets further removed from the shooting slump he had to start the season. In December, Avdija's last ten games, he's averaged 16.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists on highly efficient 54/46/77 shooting splits. With his strong performances as of late, Portland's next step is clear—carve out a starting role and more minutes for their versatile wing, "Turbo."
Avdija is proving to be worth the significant assets GM Joe Cronin gave up to acquire him from the Wizards. It was a unique and surprising trade in that the Blazers are so early in their rebuild but gave away future draft capital to get a more established player. But the Blazers clearly liked what they saw in Avdija, and now it's finally paying off, as they may have landed their best player this past summer.