Deni Avdija closed out the 2025/26 season as the franchise player of the Portland Trail Blazers. A player who had arrived just one season earlier in a trade from the Washington Wizards - known then mainly as a role player who brought solid defense and finishing in transition - Avdija developed into the centerpiece of the offense under Tiago Splitter, who had taken over the head coaching job after just one game when Chauncey Billups was sidelined amid a gambling scandal. 

Avdija and the Blazers punched their ticket to the playoffs with an impressive road win over the Phoenix Suns, only to fall in five games to the San Antonio Spurs, who would go on to reach the NBA Finals. Those five games showcased the full range of Avdija's game: the abilities that already make him special, and the areas where the 25-year-old still has room to grow. 

We broke down every single possession from Avdija's Game 5 performance against the Spurs to identify what he does at an elite level, what he does well enough, and where he can take the next step from star to superstar. Today we'll cover Avdija's offensive game; later this week, we'll dig into his defense.

Watch: Deni Avdija's offensive actions in game 5

What we actually did here was watch an entire game of Avdija's tape )Game 5 against the San Antonio Spurs( and tag every single one of his actions in the most granular way possible, without relying on Synergy: what type of offensive action it was (pick-and-roll, handoff, isolation, cut), which side of the floor it came from, what defense he faced, and whether the possession ended in a positive outcome - a bucket, a good pass, or a drawn foul - or a negative one, like a turnover or a tough, low-quality shot. We ran the same tracking process on his defense, and those findings are interesting enough that we'll get to them later this week. Below is the table of Avdija's offensive actions - the headline numbers from his game. As expected, more than any other action, Avdija attacks the basket (14 actions on the night) and operates as the ball handler in pick-and-roll (12).

Avdija closed out Game 5 of the series with 22 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, shooting 46.7% from the field and 63.6% from the free-throw line. The Spurs won 114-95, eliminating the Blazers. When we compared the frequency of his offensive actions to his season-long averages, the numbers came out remarkably similar, especially in pick-and-roll and isolation. But Avdija's success rate within those actions tells a far more complicated story.

His most effective action of the night was the handoff, specifically on one set, a Zoom action, where Avdija catches the ball in motion after an initial screen and then receives a handoff near the top of the key. Every strength in Avdija's game shows up in that single action: the speed, the quickness, the explosive first steps out of the catch, and the ability to finish through contact. His pick-and-roll reps generated 0.417 points per possession, and while the same physical traits show up there too, he needed far more craft to deal with San Antonio's elite defense, which mostly kept him in drop coverage - allowing him the perimeter shot, his weaker option. For the defense, that's much harder to do against him in a handoff, where the player setting the screen also delivers him the ball, making it tougher to sag off him.

The most complicated piece of this puzzle is isolation. On six isolation possessions where Avdija didn't get a screen, he took four shots and produced zero points. More broadly, his isolation efficiency has dropped off in the playoffs: across the full season, per Synergy, he generated 0.900 points per possession in isolation, the 53rd percentile leaguewide, a good mark. Across these five playoff games, that number fell to 0.813 points per possession, the 40th percentile (average). 

The tape makes the reason clear: without the downhill momentum of a handoff or the advantage created by a pick-and-roll screen, Avdija had to attack the league’s best defense with Victor Wembanyama waiting to help. When he was forced to stop, read the floor, and restart the possession, his efficiency dropped. Still, his isolation flashes shouldn’t be dismissed; in the playoff win over Phoenix, he scored four crucial points from isolation.

San Antonio’s main defensive priority was to push Avdija left, betting that his left-hand control lagged well behind his right. The possession breakdown does not fully support that idea: his success rate was lower on right-side actions than on left, and he still finished a transition layup going left, as well as a left-side drive with his right hand. Still, as the game progressed, he looked less comfortable when forced left. Several times, he tried to work his way back to his right or settled for an outside jumper, his weaker option. 

Next season, when opponents game-plan for him more directly, he will need sharper decision-making and more reliable finishing from his weaker side. The same applies to his shooting. 

Avdija made 31.8% of his threes during the regular season and went just 1-for-6 from deep in this game. Defenses will be even more prepared to sag off him next year, so if he is going to make the leap to superstardom, those numbers must rise.