Deni Avdija is a points-league pick and a categories trap, and the gap is turnovers

Deni Avdija's All-Star season in Portland, 24.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.7 assists over 66 games, makes him one of the hardest players to price this fall, because the team around him has changed and the two fantasy formats read his line in opposite ways. Portland traded for Ja Morant on June 29, as Willamette Week and NBC Sports both reported, and Damian Lillard returns after missing last season while recovering from a torn Achilles. Avdija is still on the Blazers, and the first Israeli named to an All-Star Game, as NBA.com and the Associated Press reported in February, but he now shares the ball with two guards who both want it.

The analysts' consensus has him 36th in points leagues and 62nd in 9-cat, a gap of twenty-six places that says the panel already sees him as a better points pick. Our projections push both numbers further down, to 54th on our points board under ESPN's default scoring and 87th on our 9-cat board, while Yahoo's scoring treats him more kindly at 42nd. We covered him briefly among the early-round traps; this piece explains where the difference between the formats and the platforms comes from, and which build rescues him.

Every player in this story is on the fantasy basketball rankings and the 2026-27 projections, and the NBA depth charts show where each one stands in his team’s rotation tonight.