Wizards select Deni Avdija with No. 9 overall pick in 2020 NBA Draft

The Washington Wizards had the ninth pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and selected Israeli G/F Deni Avdija on Wednesday night virtually from ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. The Wizards finished 25-47 after being invited to the NBA bubble in Orlando. They had a slim chance of making the playoffs and ultimately came up short. Here we’ll take a look at their first-round pick and the potential impact on the roster and in fantasy basketball.

The Wizards should be getting John Wall back into the lineup for 2020-21. He had sat out the entire 2019-20 season due to an Achilles injury. Wall has had A LOT of time to rest the injury, so we can expect him to come back in decent form. It may take him a bit to get acclimated, however. With Wall and Bradley Beal holding down the backcourt, the Wiz have a young frontcourt of Rui Hachimura and Thomas Bryant. The core isn’t bad for coach Scott Brooks, Washington just needs to put all the pieces together.

First-Round Pick Analysis

Deni Avdija came into this year’s draft as best international prospect out of Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel. Avdija stands at 6-foot-9, 215-pounds and can defends multiple positions on the floor.

The 19-year-old averaged 8.9 points and 4.7 rebounds in 21.4 minutes per game. He also shot 33 percent from the field and 64 percent on two-point field goals. Avdija is joining a Wizards’ team that already has Rui Hachimura, who they drafted last year in the first round and Troy Brown Jr., who they drafted in the previous year in the first round.