"DC U will forever be in my heart," Israeli professional basketball player Deni Avdija posted on his social media accounts on Thursday, hours after learning that the Washington Wizards, the NBA team for which he has played for the last four years, had traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Now, in addition to meeting his new teammates and finding a new place to live, Avdija, 23, is going to have to integrate into a new Jewish community and seek out fellow Israelis on the other side of the country.
Wizards fans of every religion and nationality are sorry to see him go. Avdija recorded career highs this season with averages of 14.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, and Washington fans are crying foul on social media, believing his departure to be a grave mistake by the management.
He was the star of the show each year on the Wizard's Jewish Heritage night; at this year's event, he met U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt.
Avdija has been very public about being both Jewish and Israeli. He has drawn the Star of David and written "Am Yisrael Chai" on his basketball sneakers, and he has called out the antisemitism of fellow NBA players, such as Kyrie Irving.
Wizards' games in cities throughout the country bring out fellow Israelis and Jews in droves to cheer on a landsman.
In February, after a game against the Hawks in Atlanta, dozens of local Israelis from the local Jewish community spontaneously began to sing Israel's national anthem Hatikva, joined by an emotional Avdija draped in the Israeli flag. The fans also chanted "Am Yisrael Chai" during the game and met Avdija, who came to greet and talk to them in the stands after the anthem.
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Avdija, draped in Israeli flag, sings Hatikvah with fans from the stands
(Photo: Screengrab)
If the last four years are any kind of barometer, the Jewish and Israeli communities in Portland are going to welcome the young Israeli superstar.
It is going to take some getting used to. He is leaving the greater Washington DC area, with 300,000 Jews, considered to be the third largest Jewish community by metropolitan area in the United States.
The Greater Portland Jewish community, by contrast, numbers approximately 75,500 people, of whom 56,600 are Jewish, living in 31,100 households, according to the 2022-23 Greater Portland Jewish Community Study.
And living in Portland will give him the opportunity to bring the Jewish community closer to Israel. According to the study, 26% of Jewish adults in Greater Portland explicitly describe themselves as Zionists, 52% explicitly say they are not Zionists, and 22% either do not know or prefer not to say whether they are Zionists.
There is, however, clearly some karma involved in the Avdija trade, at least if you see the world the way one member of the X platform does.
"After Oct 7, I lost a good friend who I interned w at ESPN who’s a huge Blazers fan. He wound up deciding he hates Jews and even sent me propaganda videos denying it even happened at all. Now he’s got to root for Deni Avdija on his team. Hashem, you are awesome in wonderful ways."