The Atlanta Hawks trading Trae Young to the Washington Wizards without receiving any draft capital in return shows just how little the league values these offensive stars who are major defensive liabilities. But it's not black-and-white: many stars are forced to expend so much of their energy on the offensive end, compromising their defense in the process. That's been the case for Portland Trail Blazers rising star Deni Avdija.
Despite this, Avdija is still a neutral defender while taking on such a massive offensive workload. On the Game Theory Podcast, Sam Vecenie said that Avdija is average defensively and that his drop-off on that end has been greatly exaggerated.