Wizards' Deni Avdija Receives Fewer Fouls When Falling Than Other NBA Stars

During the NBA offseason, analysis of player statistics has revealed an unusual trend concerning foul calls when players fall. A popular podcast, All-NBA, examined the percentage of fouls drawn by players after they fall during a shot attempt. The data indicated that among players who fell most frequently during shots, Israeli forward Deni Avdija of the Washington Wizards was the only player to draw fewer fouls when he was fouled compared to when he was not.

Avdija averaged drawing fouls on 6.37% of shots where he did not fall, but only 4.76% of shots where he did fall. This contrasts sharply with other top players. For instance, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drew fouls on 2.8% of non-fall shots versus 33.3% of fall shots, a difference of 16 times. Karl-Anthony Towns saw 4.56% for non-fall shots compared to 20.34% for fall shots.

While Avdija did fall on 5.9% of shots where he drew a foul, placing him fourth in the league behind Saddiq Bey, VJ Adetokunbo, and Pascal Siakam, his overall foul-drawing rate when falling was notably lower than his peers. In the previous season, Avdija ranked third in the league with an average of 9.2 free throw attempts per game.