Rookie forward Deni Avdija has signed his rookie contract with the Wizards, the team announced today (via Twitter).
The No. 9 pick in the draft, Avdija is in line for a four-year, $20.34MM deal, assuming he signs for 120% of the rookie scale amount, as virtually every first-round pick does. The contract, which will pay him $4.47MM in his rookie season, will be guaranteed for the first two years, with third- and fourth-year team options.
Avdija, who has spent the last three years with Maccabi Tel Aviv, won the Israeli League Most Valuable Player award in 2020. He averaged 12.9 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and 2.7 APG in Israeli League games, becoming the youngest MVP in league history at age 19.
Widely considered a probable top-five pick entering the November 18 draft, Avdija slipped to the Wizards at No. 9 and will now join a team led by John Wall and Bradley Beal that’s looking to make it back to the postseason in 2021. Washington now has a full 20-man training camp roster.
Deni Avdija is planning to use a BIG CHUNK of his new four-year, $20.34MM deal, to educate his parents in SPELLING. Especially proper names.
This is such an ignorant comment
No, my sources said he is donating all of it to help people in need so they do not feel the need to post cringey comments about names frequently in the comments.
Is this real life?!?
I do that but I would not go so far as nentwigs… which is a funnier name than most people have BTW! Foreign parents do not owe America anything.
It’s a Serbian name but hardly difficult. Denny Odd-vee-ya. True it looks like Av-DEE-ja but that is not what he’s going with. Fine, works better as Odviya . It will probably get misspelled a lot after people hear it on TV but is unique and easy either way.
Two letters are transposed in pronunciation, like with Brett Favre, pronounced ‘Farv’ according to Brett (wrongly). Prominent Hungarian-Americans have called him out on it, as it should sound like “Favor” , but he is from Mississippi not Hungary and mows his own lawns lol.
I like this comment
I am excited for him to join to NBA. The Wizards aren’t my team but I might get a jersey
I’m surprised he dropped to #9. A solid prospect in a fairly weak draft class. He has the skillset to excel as a solid rotation player with the upside of being a productive starter. Sadly, the Wizards will be trapped under John Wall’s massive contract for the next few years and they seem unwilling to bite the bullet and trade Bradley Beal to help build for the future.
this aged well
He’s still very young. But I’m surprised he dropped too. I thought Knicks were taking him. With the huge Jewish community in NYC. Thought they might feel pressure to take him. Plus we need a SF and he’s a solid one. I’m so glad they took Toppin. He is the more ready talent. And probably one of safest picks in draft. We are very lucky he dropped to us. Now we can move Randle for shooter or PG. Now Randle and expiring contracts can get us a potential star.