What a moment for Israeli basketball  Last Friday night, 24-year-old Deni Avdija poured in 27 points for the Portland Trail Blazers and officially became Israel’s all-time leading NBA scorer with over 4,643 points, surpassing the mark that Omri Casspi had held for more than a decade. Deni’s journey started on a quiet kibbutz called Beit Zera, where he was born in 2001 to Zufer Avdija, a legendary forward who became an Israeli basketball icon. At the age of 12, Deni was persuaded by a friend to switch his focus from soccer to basketball due to his height advantage. Deni excelled at basketball and by 16 he was winning Israeli league championships and earning MVP honors with Maccabi Tel Aviv, and at just 19 he heard his name called 9th overall in the 2020 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards. Today, as a starter in Portland, he carries the flag for an entire country every time he steps on the court. Before Deni, Omri Casspi blazed the trail as the very first Israeli in the NBA in 2009, spending nine seasons across seven teams and even winning a ring with the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers. A handful of others have followed: Gal Mekel appeared in 35 games for Dallas and New Orleans, T.J. Leaf (born in Tel Aviv) played three seasons with Indiana, Yam Madar spent a brief moment on Boston’s roster, and Ryan Turell became the first Orthodox Jew ever drafted. But now the crown belongs to Deni, and at only 24 the gap is only going to widen.