The Portland Trail Blazers stole a franchise cornerstone when they acquired Deni Avdija from the Washington Wizards. As LeBron James recently said on an episode of the "Mind The Game" podcast, the Wizards should be "kicking themselves" for ever trading Avdija away.
That wasn't always the narrative surrounding this trade. In fact, many initially criticized the rebuilding Blazers for sacrificing future assets to land a more established player. In order to land Avdija, Portland surrendered Malcolm Brogdon, the No. 14 overall pick in 2024 (Bub Carrington), a 2029 first-round pick (second-most favorable between Portland, Milwaukee, and Boston), and two second-round picks in 2028 and 2030.
Just two seasons later, it's already become apparent that Portland massively underpaid to land a rising star.
Blazers' Deni Avdija trade went from steal to highway robbery
Just look at what the Orlando Magic had to pay this past summer to land Desmond Bane: Cole Anthony, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, four unprotected first-round picks, and one first-round pick swap.
Avdija is already a more impactful player, younger, and on a significantly more team-friendly contract. The Blazers absolutely shouldn't trade him after they finally landed the star they've desperately been searching for, but hypothetically, Avdija would now land them a Bane-like package -- at minimum. That's how much his value has increased in just a span of two seasons.
It also isn't that surprising that Portland bought low. Avdija showed signs of reaching his potential at the end of his time with the Wizards. The most important improvement was in his three-point shooting, jumping from 29.7 to 37.4% his final two seasons in Washington. Fortunately for the Blazers, that new and improved three-point was here to stay, as Avdija has hovered around 36% both seasons in Portland.
While Avdija's career was still trending upward at the time Portland acquired him, his star ceiling still has to be surprising. Credit has to be given to both Deni and Portland, as this is a perfect fit for each other.
Down the stretch of last season, we saw Avdija take a leap as he had to embrace more of a point-forward role with the Blazers down key players due to injury. Unfortunate injury circumstances led to Portland relying on Avdija even more in 2025-26, with the silver lining being that he's stepped up in that increased role.
This season, he's averaged 26.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 6.9 assists on 47/36/80 shooting splits. Most importantly, he's managed to keep an injured Blazers team's playoff hopes alive in a stacked Western Conference.
The Wizards wanted to tear down their roster to initiate a full-on rebuild, and while that's typically not a bad approach, it's problematic when you already have a rising star like Deni Avdija.
With Deni now all but a lock to make his first All-Star appearance, the Wizards definitely have to be left wondering how they ever let this one slip away.