Some breakouts arrive quietly. Others hit you in the face. Deni Avdija’s season belongs to the second kind. You watch a Portland game now and it takes about three possessions before you realise he is not the same player people kept calling “promising” for four years. Something changed. The numbers are loud, sure, but it is the attitude that jumps out first.
What has changed
He walks onto the court like someone who has stopped asking if he belongs there. And the stat sheet backs it. As of mid November 2025 he is putting up roughly twenty six points a night, grabbing around six to seven rebounds and handing out four to five assists. Even basketball betting fans can’t look away anymore as those are not the numbers of a role player who had a good week. Those are the numbers of someone who decided he is done being a supporting cast member.
The scoring looks different too. He is not waiting for the ball in the corner. He brings it up, pushes the pace, goes at mismatches without hesitating. Earlier this month he had a night where he finished with twenty six points, ten boards and nine assists and somehow the best part was that it did not look like an outlier. It looked like something he could do again next Tuesday if the game calls for it.
The role he plays
What makes people talk about an All Star spot is not just the points. It is the way he is affecting the Blazers. When he is on the floor they look faster and cleaner. The offense breathes. Teammates actually cut because they know the ball might come back. That was not always the case.
His shooting has been steady, almost quiet. Close to forty percent from deep, close to fifty percent from the field. Nothing forced. He takes what the game gives him and then once or twice a night he takes something extra just to show he can. That is usually the sign of a player settling into who he really is.
There are questions, of course. Portland are rebuilding and that always creates suspicion. People will say the stats come easier when the expectations are low. Some will want to see him do this in games that mean something in April or May. Some will want a few more rebounds. That is fine. Every breakout season brings the usual list of “yes, but”.
The thing that matters is how he looks. He looks like a player who understands his own strengths now. He reads defenders instead of reacting to them. He chooses his spots instead of waiting for plays to be called. There is a sense of control in his game that was not there two seasons ago, or even early last season.
If he keeps this up through January, he will force his way into the All Star conversation whether Portland win or not. Voters love a surprise and right now Avdija is one of the most surprising players in the league. Not because nobody thought he could be good, but because very few thought he could be this good this soon in this team.
The time is now
Sometimes a player grows slowly for years and then, without warning, everything clicks. That is what this season feels like. A player stepping into the version of himself that he probably saw long before anyone else did. If he keeps going at this pace, the All Star label will not be a stretch. It will just be an overdue acknowledgement of what he has already become.
