Deni Avdija's first All-Star season is already turning heads among his NBA peers — including one of the league's most talked-about young forwards.
Matas Buzelis, the Chicago Bulls' 21-year-old forward, told Lonzo and LiAngelo Ball on their "Ball in the Family" podcast that he has been quietly studying under Avdija since the two crossed paths at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, according to ONE.
"I've been talking with him," Buzelis said, explaining that he wants to reshape a game he felt drifted too far toward the perimeter. "I feel like I was shooting too many threes, like I need to get to the rim more. I want to know how he lowers his shoulder, how he attacks."
It is a notable compliment. Avdija, the Israeli forward who came up through Maccabi Tel Aviv before being drafted ninth overall by Washington in 2020, has become one of the league's most physically imposing downhill scorers — a bulldozing, shoulder-first style that helped him earn his first All-Star selection this past season with Portland, where he averaged 24.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.7 assists a game.
Buzelis, selected 11th by Chicago in the 2024 draft out of the G League Ignite program, put up solid if streaky rookie numbers largely built around catch-and-shoot three-point attempts. His comments suggest a deliberate offseason pivot toward a more downhill, rim-attacking game plan for his second NBA season.
He wasn't done name-checking mentors, either — Buzelis also cited Orlando's Franz Wagner as another forward whose all-around game he is trying to emulate, a further sign he is looking beyond his own roster for a offensive template.
For Avdija, the exchange is a small but telling marker of how far his profile has traveled since Washington traded him to Portland in 2024. A player once known mainly to close followers of Israeli and European basketball is now cited by a lottery pick on a rival roster as the guy to call for pointers on attacking the basket.
Neither Buzelis nor Avdija has commented further on the substance of their conversations beyond what surfaced on the podcast, and there is no indication the two have any formal training arrangement — just, by Buzelis's own account, an ongoing dialogue that began in Las Vegas this summer.
