Deni Avdija wanted to play for Israel in FIBA World Cup qualifying this summer. The Trail Blazers said no, and Avdija made clear this week that the decision was not his.
“Portland wasn’t willing to take a risk with my health, and in the situation that arose, I simply didn’t have the option to step up and play,” Avdija said in comments posted to social media on Aug. 31. He went further in describing the injury behind the decision: “This time I dealt with a complex back injury. An injury that those who haven’t gone through it really can’t understand what it demands.”
Portland’s caution traces directly to last season. Avdija dealt with back tightness in January, re-injured it in February, and missed 16 of Portland’s games before returning for the final stretch of the schedule, when his performance metrics still showed the effects. A team that watched a core piece struggle through a lingering back issue for months has an obvious incentive to keep him away from another physically demanding commitment during the only real offseason recovery window he gets.
Israel had already been eliminated from World Cup contention by the time this qualifying window rolled around, which made the calculus easier for Portland. There was no meaningful competitive stakes for Avdija to weigh against the injury risk, and the Blazers were not going to gamble his health on games that would not change Israel’s path to the tournament.
Avdija’s comments are notable less for what they reveal about the injury and more for how directly he assigned the decision to the team rather than framing it as his own call. Players navigating national team duty usually stick to careful, diplomatic language about mutual agreement with their NBA club. Avdija instead described it as something imposed on him, a distinction that matters for how fans read his relationship with Portland’s medical and coaching staff as the franchise builds its rotation around him for 2026-27.
For now, the injury itself appears to be a source of caution rather than alarm. Training camp opens league wide on Sept. 29, and how Avdija looks in those first practices will say more about where things stand than any offseason statement can.