Deni Avdija highlights Israel's provisional roster for EuroBasket / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

Israeli national team head coach Guy Goodess announced the extended list of 18 players for the upcoming FIBA World Cup European Qualifiers and EuroBasket.

Deni Avdija

Team:Washington WizardsPosition:SG, SFAge:21Height:200 cmBirth place:IsraelProfileNewsStatistics

Washington Wizards forward Deni Avdija spearheads the team. The 21-year-old Avdija completed his second season in the NBA with the Wizards, averaging 8.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 2.0 assists over 82 games.

He was one of the five NBA players to compete in all regular-season duels this past season.

As stated by the former Israeli League MVP and three-time Israeli League champion, it was a "terribly hard" journey, which required a lot of commitment and energy.

"I have no way to describe it - you really have to be mentally strong," Avdija told the journalists of the Israeli media outlet One. "It's already beyond basketball, playing late, and then there are flights. You arrive at 04:00 at a hotel, sleep a bit, and then there is a game. It's terribly hard and tiring.

There were times when I woke up in the morning and could not even get up and drink water, I was exhausted in an incomprehensible way. I did not sense when it's Friday and when it's Sunday. I had no weekends and so on," the small forward recalled his journey in the 2021-22 season.

Avdija's last time with the national team was back in 2021, when he played in FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers.

The Israeli NT will play against Finland on August 25 and Sweden on August 28 for the WC European Qualifiers before going to EuroBasket 2022. The squad is placed in Group D alongside Serbia, Poland, Finland, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic.

Full roster:

Deni Avdija John DiBartolomeo Gal Mekel Yam Madar Noam Dovrat Bar Timor Tamir Blatt Yiftah Ziv Niv Misgavm Guy Pnini Rafael Menco Yovel Zoosman Tomer Ginat Nimrod Levi Jake Cohen Roman Sorkin Gabriel Chachashvili Idan Zalmanson Subscribe to BN+ and get access to exclusive content.