Chauncey Billups’ unfiltered reaction to report of him calling Deni Avdija Portland’s best player

Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups shot down a report floating around that claimed he thinks one of the team’s newer faces in Deni Avdija is Portland’s best player.

The rumor seemed to have stemmed from a post by Blazers Argento on X earlier in the week.

The Trail Blazers acquired Avdija from the Washington Wizards in a trade a few months ago. In exchange for Avdija, Portland traded guard Malcolm Brogdon, rookie Carlton Carrington — who was selected with the No. 14 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft — along with multiple draft picks to the nation’s capital.

While Avdija got off to a rocky start to his NBA career — he averaged single digits in points per game in his first three seasons in the league — he enjoyed a breakout campaign in the 2023-24 season, his last with the Wizards. The Israel native averaged career-highs across the board.

Firstly, he showed significant growth as a scorer. He averaged 14.7 points per game, and his improved 3-point shot helped him score the ball at a higher volume. After not shooting better than 31.7 percent from deep in any of his initial three seasons, he buried a solid 37.4 percent of his looks from 3.

Additionally, while Avdija may never be entrusted with running an NBA offense like a point guard, he has proven himself to be quite the capable playmaker. He averaged 3.8 assists per game on a Wizards team that won only 15 games and had far from the most talented roster in the league.

Avdija’s playmaking and scoring chops might make him one of the better players on Portland’s roster, but he has some competition for the title of being the Trail Blazers’ best player.

Both Jerami Grant and Anfernee Simons may have better cases for such a title at this time. The former averaged 21.0 points per game while shooting better than 40 percent from deep last season. As for the latter, he averaged 22.6 points per contest.

In addition, Deandre Ayton averaged a double-double in his first season in Portland.

Labeling Avdija as Portland’s top talent before he’s even played a regular-season game with the team seems presumptuous, but he is still a very talented player and is only 23 years old.