Deni Avdija Faces Backlash for Rejoicing at LeBron James Stumbling Behind Him

Joseph Galizia | 23/02/2025
Deni Avdija and LeBron James

Deni Avdija had a big game this past Thursday against the Lakers, dropping 28 points in 34 minutes of play. Unfortunately, the solid performance has already been overshadowed by the Blazers star deciding to post an unflattering photo of LeBron James from their game together. The picture has caused him a great deal of online backlash.

Avdija recently took to his Instagram and shared a still from the Blazers/Lakers matchup, which shows LeBron James on his knees watching as the Blazers star is on a fastbreak across half-court. To top it all off, Avdija added a smiley face emoticon as the caption of the picture, a kind of celebration of the embarrassing moment for Bron.

The baffling part of Avdija dropping the photo is that the Blazers lost the game 110-102. While he had a good stat line, it was not as good as James, who dropped a 40 piece at 40 years of age. The loss was the Blazers’ 33rd of the season — and cemented them comfortably in the #13th spot in the West.

Therefore, several fans have responded to Avdija’s shocking post, and they were not kind. One fan called out the 24-year-old’s credentials to post such an insulting picture of one of the greatest players of all time.

Similar reactions followed.

Avdija’s post has since been deleted.

LeBron and Avdija have had a few controversial encounters together on the court

LeBron and Avdija do have a slight history over the past season. In April 2024, LBJ smashed the then-Wizards forward in the face with an elbow while he was spinning toward the rim. Avdija would miss the following game due to a migraine.

Prior to their Thursday night matchup, the Blazers and the Lakers met on January 2nd. On that night, Avdija got hit with a technical foul after he faked out James on a fast break. The young forward bumped Austin Reaves out of the way, then stalled to let James fly over him before hitting a lay-up.

Shortly after the bucket, the Blazers star taunted James and Dorian Finney-Smith by pointing at them to let them know, “I got you.”

Avdija may not have the best awareness when it comes to social media trolling, but he can ball when he’s locked in. This season alone he’s averaging 14.8 PPG, adding 6.3 RPG and 3.5 APG on top of it. Hopefully, he has something more clever in store for LeBron when the game actually matters.

Post Edited By: Satagni Sikder
Deni Advija LeBron James Los Angeles Lakers

About the author

Joseph Galizia

Joseph is a Las Vegas based actor and circus performer. For the last seven years he's had the pleasure of covering sports for multiple outlets, including the Lifestyles section of Sports Illustrated. In that time, he's conducted over 50 interviews with athletes, filmmakers, and company founders to further cement his footprint in the journalism world. He's excited to bring that skillset to the SportsRush, where he'll be covering the NBA news cycle.

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