1. Deni Avdija
Deni Avdija is the best international prospect in this years draft. At 6-foot-9, 215 pounds, Avdija has massive upside. Currently he plays for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli Premier League. He joined the Maccabi Tel Aviv junior teams in 2013 and made his professional debut in 2017. In 2019 Avedija debuted for the Israeli National Team in the FIBA Europe World Cup qualifiers.
Avdija is a talented defender with elite shot creating abilities. While he shoots at a decent rate from deep, Avdija struggles with free throw percentage (52 percent) and has consistency issues inside the paint. He is a skilled passer and defensive rebounder.
Avdija struggles with consistency issues in regard to energy. Defensively he cannot hang with the bigs in the EuroLeague and won’t be able to in the Association, and will be relegated to a wing defender in the NBA — however as a wing defender in Europe, he has been dominant. With that being said the 18-year-old has tons of potential.
Avdija will be an early lottery pick with all of his untapped potential. If he can improve upon his weak left-hand and shooting issues, Avdija could be a staple in the league for years to come. He’s drawn comparisons to Luka Doncic which, frankly, I don’t see. Perhaps he has some similarities as a player to Luka but will not be the All-NBA player Luka is.
With that, however, Avdija could become a core player for a contender soon and the third Israeli to ever be a first round pick.