Portland tells Israel it will not release Deni Avdija for July window
The Israel Basketball Association said it received an NBA letter a few days ago informing it that the Portland Trail Blazers will not release Deni Avdija for the national team’s upcoming July window. Avdija now joins Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf, who also will not be released by Brooklyn, leaving Israel without several key players for the final window of the first qualifying stage for the 2027 World Cup.
Israel is scheduled to host Germany on July 3 in Riga, then travel three days later to Osijek to face Croatia. The team is 2-2 after beating Cyprus twice and losing to Germany and Croatia, but it has already secured a place in the second group stage.
A number of players are also not expected to be included because of injuries and personal matters, including Tamir Blatt, Idan Zalmanson, Yuval Zussman and Gur Lavy. The squad for the July window will be announced in the coming days.
Training is set to begin this coming Sunday, June 21, and the date of the team’s press conference will be announced later.
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