Deni Avdija has given the Portland Trail Blazers something real to build around in the wake of the Ja Morant injury, but Friday’s 124-118 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers was a blunt reminder of the gap between promising and fully polished.
Avdija’s expanded point-forward role has helped give Portland a clearer offensive pecking order. The problem is that when the Blazers needed him to carry the load against the Lakers, the ball security issues that have followed him into this role showed up in a big way. He put up 22 points, 11 assists and 9 rebounds, but he also accounted for 8 of Portland’s 24 turnovers.
That’s the tension with this version of the Blazers. Damian Lillard is leaning more off the ball at 36, Scoot Henderson hasn’t been able to seize the secondary playmaking job in Morant’s absence, and Jrue Holiday is building an early Sixth Man of the Year case.
If Micah Nori is going to keep Holiday on the bench, somebody has to handle the playmaking behind Avdija. Right now, that job still isn’t being filled cleanly.
Against Los Angeles, the burden landed too heavily on Avdija. And while Portland can live with him as the hub of the offense, it can’t afford the kind of possession drain that came with his season-high eight turnovers.
Luka Doncic’s 53-point explosion made the comparison even starker. The Blazers are not going to win on top-end star power with Avdija going head-to-head with Doncic as the team’s best player.
Their path has to come from the 2-10 spots, where the roster needs to create the edge that keeps them afloat in the Western Conference playoffs.
That’s why the turnover issue matters so much. Avdija is close enough statistically to look like a primary engine, especially with all these near triple-double nights, but the giveaways are the one thing keeping him from fully functioning as a lead playmaker on a contender.
To Portland’s credit, this is the version of Avdija they wanted. The Blazers targeted him while he was with the Washington Wizards and have been willing to live through the growing pains that come with turning him into a jumbo guard under Chauncey Billups and Tiago Splitter. Nori has already helped unlock an offense that’s been efficient through the team’s 6-2 start, and the early returns suggest he’s the right coach for this next phase.
Still, the next step for Portland depends on Avdija taking another step himself. The Blazers’ most obvious roster concern is still shooting, though that hasn’t hurt them as much with Lillard back and with internal growth from players like Toumani Camara, who is shooting 47.5 percent from three to start the season. But turnovers were a major issue in last year’s Avdija-led offense, when Portland finished dead last in the league in that category.
The added ball-handling in the backcourt has helped some, and the decision to bring in Morant was meant to ease that strain. Even so, Lillard and Morant have both made it clear that the offense still runs through Avdija.
That makes sense. Portland has a matchup edge with him in this jumbo-guard role.
But Friday also showed the difference between what Doncic can do in that spot and where Avdija still is in his development.
The investment is worth making. Avdija’s All-Star season already proved that. But his eight turnovers against the Lakers were a season high, and they ended up dragging down an offense that now largely revolves around him.
The challenge only gets tougher from here, with the Blazers set to face the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder, two of the league’s best defenses. With Morant still out, Portland is going to need Avdija to do even more heavy lifting. If he can keep the turnovers down, the Blazers have a much better chance to survive that stretch.
At 25, Avdija still has room to grow into the role. He’s trying to sharpen his decision-making without losing the aggressiveness and physicality that make him such a tough matchup. The Lakers game showed how far he still has to go, but it also hinted at how high the ceiling can be if he gets there.
For now, the formula is simple: Avdija as the primary initiator only works if he protects the ball. If he does, Portland suddenly has a rare matchup advantage with him running the show.
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