The Washington Wizards are riding a six-game winning streak after getting the franchise's first win in San Antonio since 1999 thanks to a career-high 25 points from third-year forward Deni Avdija.
Avdija, who was born 13 months after Washington's last win at the Spurs, joined Team 980's Russell & Medhurst to talk about his big scoring night, his increased confidence, the Rui Hachimura trade, and Washington's team chemistry and camaraderie during the winning streak.
Listen to Deni starting at 39:25 here:
In the four games since the Hachimura trade, Avdija is averaging 16.3 points on (57.9% from the floor) with 9.5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1.8 steals in 30.7 minutes per game.
Avdija said the change has come from "just being more aggressive."
"Building it up throughout the year and just getting confidence. Just not thinking too much," he added, "just playing the game and playing it the right way. And first of all, I have a great team around me and great teammates that really support me and give me confidence. That helps me a lot, too."
When asked about seeing his teammates' response and the "Turbo" celebration, Avdija said he loves it.
"I think that's what got me started," he said on Team 980. "I got skill, you know, I can do stuff on the court that my teammates get excited, my teammates want to see more. And feel like everybody's happy for me and everybody really wants me to succeed and that's the best environment you can have as a player, as a young player for sure."
Avdija added the energy from the "healthy environment" of the Wizards bench is driving him "to be even better and work even harder."
"When you have healthy environment like that, not even when I score a basket, but you see how we treat each other on the court, you understand why we are in such a good winning streak," Avdija told Russell & Medhurt. "And it looks different, man. I'm so happy to see that cause we didn't have it in a while and now it's all [starting] to connect and it's no looking back from here. Hopefully."
Avdija and the Wizards (24-26, 9th in the Eastern Conference) conclude the road trip and make it seven wins on the bounce Wednesday night at the Detroit Pistons (13-39, last in the East), coverage starts at 6:45 p.m. on Team 980 right here:
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