Deni Avdija, Israel
Deni Avdija is only the 7th player from Israel to perform in an NBA game and is the country’s only current player, similar to Sochan. Unlike Sochan, though, Israel has not had the same success for their men’s national team in recent years. Israel is currently the 34th-ranked country in the FIBA rankings.
Israel has only made two appearances in the World Cup, most recently back in 1986. They have been in the Olympics once, which was in 1952. They are not and have never been major players in the international basketball scene. They consistently qualify for EuroBasket, where they finished 17th, but all that means is that they remain a top 24 European team. They haven’t finished top eight there since 2003.
Israel’s on the rise though, and Avdija is at the forefront of this. Israel is ranked 11th in the boys’ FIBA rankings, as they are quite good in youth competitions. They have been consistently solid at the U16 and U18 levels, finishing 5th in 2022’s U16 European Championships. Where they are best, though, is the U20 level, having been sheerly dominant. They have won the gold medal twice (2018, 2019) in the last five competitions, while finishing with the silver medal twice in that span (2017, 2023). The one time they didn’t medal in the last five competitions? 2022, and they finished 4th.
Avdija has been the most successful international player on this list. He was on both U20 teams that won the gold medal in 2018 and 2019, being a member of the All-Tournament Team at age 17 and then winning Tournament MVP at age 18. In 2019 when he won the MVP award, he averaged 18.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.1 steals, and 2.4 blocks on a 51.7 TS% (42.9/28.6/60.0 splits).
That’s just for the youth team; he has played for the senior national team multiple times in qualifying competitions for the FIBA World Cup and EuroBasket, but his most noticeable participation for Israel was last year’s EuroBasket. Israel only finished 17th, but Avdija averaged 14.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 4.6 assists on a 52.7 TS% (40.0/33.3/71.4 splits).
Enjoy some of his EuroBasket highlights here:
With Israel’s success at the U20 level, it wouldn’t be surprising for Israel to become even more competitive at EuroBasket in 2025, and they will definitely have a good opportunity to qualify for the 2027 World Cup, led by none other than Avdija. Israel is set to participate in one of the two European Pre-Qualifying Olympic Qualifying Tournaments next month, and Avdija was set to play there, but with reports that the Wizards prefer Avdija not play and a recent injury that Avdija suffered with Israel, it’s unclear whether or not he will actually suit up in the blue and white next month.
Regardless, Israel has a nice future with Avdija.