I’ve been working on this article for almost a year. Many interviews were cut, but I want to thank the nearly 40–50 people who were interviewed and helped bring this to life.

TURBO.

The perfect nickname for Deni, and honestly, the whole concept of “Turbo” sums up Deni’s career over the past decade. I mean, even Deni himself couldn’t have predicted his career trajectory: All Star, All NBA candidate, MIP frontrunner, a top 10 player in the NBA, leading his team as the best player on the Portland Trail Blazers. After nearly four years in Washington, Portland already feels like home, from Washington in the East to now close to Washington State in the West.

Turbo isn’t something that just charges through obstacles like everyone thinks. Before Deni accelerates, he slows down, and once he’s charged, not one player can stop the Turbo, not even the best team in the league this season in OKC.

It’s fascinating how, throughout Deni’s career, so many people around the world would wake up at odd hours to watch him. At the time, Deni was the only Jewish and Israeli player in the NBA, before Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf. I myself couldn’t fully believe that dedication until I moved to Israel and started doing the same. Even back in America, I was up all night making Deni edits long before he was part of these All Star conversations. But these people aren’t just fans, Deni is a big part of their lives. Many believed he could be this good from the moment he entered the NBA almost five years ago, and many, like me, believed even before he entered the league. The NBA has always had Jewish and Israeli fans, but Deni created many more.

A year ago, while I was working on this article, I asked my 13,000 Instagram followers where they watched Deni from. I’m now at almost 21 thousand followers, but even then the responses showed just how global his reach already was. People answered from Latvia, Denmark, New Zealand, Argentina, Uruguay, Thailand, the Philippines, places all over the U.S., and, of course, Israel.

In the month before last season’s All Star break, my posts reached 5,435,612 people. Now, in the month before this season’s All Star break, that reach more than doubled, with my Instagram reaching 11,623,679 people. My top cities during that span this year were Tel Aviv, New York, Portland, and Jerusalem, and my top countries were Israel and the United States, followed by Serbia and then Australia. The Serbia stat was pretty cool to me, especially considering Deni is part Serbian.

With Deni’s rise has come a global fanbase willing to sacrifice sleep just to watch him play. I asked fans from around the world how it feels to stay up late or wake up early for Deni, and why they continue to do it night after night.

The responses below are all anonymous and come from every corner of the world. They also include my own answers, along with those of TheBasketballWrld, IsraeliBasketball, MrBuckBuckNBA, and other major pages that help distribute and amplify the voices of these fans. The next article I make will focus more on us as distributors, but this is a complete Q and A dedicated entirely to the fans themselves. It took many all nighters and almost a year of work now to put together. I hope you enjoy:

(DISCLAIMER: These answers were before All-Star break last season)

Q1: How Does It Feel to Stay Up Late to Watch Deni Avdija Play in the NBA?

A: First off obviously when it comes to watching games at those kinds of hours the 4 AM and 5 AM type games you feel super tired and everyone is asleep at home.

Lol I’m just doing a little and quite yesss everytime Deni scores a bucket because I don’t wanna wake up the house.

B: The time difference is extreme, especially the first 4 years when it was mostly ET ( usually 2 am in Israel), but watching Deni lace up against LeBron and Giannis and hearing “Deni Avdija from Maccabi Tel Aviv Israel means the world.”

Watching a guy you saw in U16 and U18 competition in your local School going up against the best players in the world is an unbelievable feeling of satisfaction

C: It’s always exciting, always expecting to see a good performance from Deni. We want the best for him.

D: It’s very hard for me to not sleep but I think it’s worth to see because I love to see Deni play

E: It’s really annoying that games are late but whenever Deni is on the court it gives me some energy to watch especially since Deni is doing so well and I’m so happy whenever lying in bed and seeing him score. Just this past game vs the Bucks he had an insane crossover dunk which I was going crazy for.

F: Staying up late to watch Deni Avdija play in the NBA is always exciting, especially with the time difference. No matter how well Deni plays, I always enjoy watching him because I’m a big fan of his. Whether he’s having a great game or not, I love seeing him on the court, and it’s always a fun experience. Even if the game ends late, it’s worth it, and I’m always looking forward to the next one.

G: It’s a lot of fun especially lately when he’s getting the ball a lot and is involved in the game however earlier in his career every bad game made me feel less and less motivated to stay up and every bad play made me scared that I stayed up for no reason.

H: It is tough sometimes, but it’s a huge passion of mine. Usually the games in west coast start at 5am my time, so it’s great.

It is tough to wake up at 2am (east coast games), in the weekends I just stay up all night and sleep during the day.

It’s my 4th year with the NBA league pass, so I get the full experience

I: Feel like you are part of a small community of crazy people who love the game and find a reason to watch the games ( not living in the state so don’t really have a connection to any team )

J: I watch the games earlier but it’s at like 6am for me because I live in hawaii so I wake up early.

K: Feels special, I woke up to a lot of games back in time but in Deni’s first year I woke up every single night, whenever he touched the ball I was excited.

L: It is quite unfortunate that I am not able to watch every single Deni game due to personal circumstances, but when I do get the chance (usually on weekends) it’s really exiting to be a part of his growth as a player and a person. every time he makes a good move or a nice bucket I get chills all over my body and suddenly it’s easier for me to stay awake.

M: Became a usual thing, especially when he is in good form, celebrating every point, waking up was hard but now I’m used to it and it became part of my day

My Answer: I’ll be honest if I told my doctor how much sleep I’ve sacrificed to watch Deni this year in Israel he’d probably tell me to stop coming to his office, even before his All Star breakout every single game of Deni was worth the watch, just seeing his journey all the way through his career has been some of the greatest experiences of my life.

What motivates you to stay up late and watch the games, even though it’s often past midnight or in the early morning hours for you?

A: The NBA is my favorite NBA league in sports and it’s the best Basketball league in the world, so the fact that I have this player to represent my country in Deni Avdija feels super awesome.

I’ve watched Deni ever since his Maccabi days and his first games in the league, I saw his development from a role player to the star the he is today.

The fact that there’s a guy that represents my country in such a pride, and I want in his success makes me super motivated to watch his game, even with the crazy time zones differences.

B: We are emotionally invested in Deni, we feel like the successes of Deni are the successes of Israel and we want to watch it happen live

C: What motivates me to stay up late and watch the games, even past midnight, is my love for Deni Avdija and watching him play in the NBA. Seeing him represent Israel and improve keeps me engaged. The late hours can be tough, but my support for Deni and passion for basketball keep me going.

D: Passion for basketball, passion for seeing Deni hooping and balling. I feel proud to be his fan. I have been watching him since he was 16, in Maccabi. It makes me humble to see how hard he works to improve.

E: That’s easy, as long as deni is playing well and attacking the basket doesn’t matter 10 turnovers or 0 as long as he’s playing good basketball It gives me and probably the most people who wakes up at night to watch him the motivation to wake up

My Answer: Last year when I wrote this I had just pulled like maybe a couple months straight of all nighters just editing Deni content itself, this year I edit during the day and watch Deni during the night but honestly just seeing everyone’s positive reactions to my content all throughout social media has just made my hard work worth it, last year if I didn’t post a second after games there were legit people waiting

Do you feel a sense of national pride when watching Deni? (And can you share a specific moment where you felt especially proud of him?

A: I do feel an intense national pride when I’m watching Deni.

Like I said the NBA is the highest level of Basketball in the world, and the fact that I have a guy from my country to represent us as a country is super wholesome.

Everytime Deni plays I feel that he’s representing Israel, so every play he’s doing, every bucket, every block it’s for the country.

The moment that I felt super proud in him has to be when he dropped 43 points against the Pelicans, he broke the Israeli record for most points in an NBA game and it was a complete masterpiece.

After this game I’m seeing Twitter going wild, NBA Central and ESPN tweets, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett are talking about him, and it felt like he was a superstar which made me feel super proud.

B: Absolutely.

I remember his first game against Brooklyn with Durant and Kyrie.

I stayed up, and I remember watching him score a basket against Durant and telling to myself “it is possible. A guy from Israel came actually go up as a real opponents with these legends” and it inspired me and still inspire me that we can do everything we set our minds to.

C: He brings such an energy to the team and whenever he has his best games and even when he’s not playing so well, his country is beside him. Seeing a Jewish player in the NBA motivates me to be my best and hopefully be like him some day.

D: Of course there is nothing I like more than Israelis succeed in sports the most memorable moment was when he wore the “יזכור״ shoes

E: I do feel a lot of national pride when watching Deni. We are a tiny nation, with lots of struggles and he is a beacon of hope and joy for me

F: Definitely feel national pride, like when Maccabi plays the EuroLeague. Don’t have a specific moment it more about the vibes than he makes like the small things he say in interviews or on social media

My Answer: For me it when on his Blazers debut game which fell out on Yom Kippur he decided not to play and that really touched me because that day as I was a chazzan (cantor) for hundreds of people and before Yom Kippur I was posting a deni edit every single day of the offseason for hundreds of days even when Deni wasn’t playing and doing a countdown for months until he played so to miss his first game back would’ve been devastating to me, also just what an incredible Kiddush Hashem, could be his first game as a Blazer but decides not to play because it’s Yom Kippur.

How do you see the future of Israeli basketball evolving with Deni Avdija’s presence in the NBA? Do you think more young Israelis will follow in his footsteps?

A: I believe that the future of Israeli Basketball is going into his golden age.

We have Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf. Besides those two there are guys like Omer Mayer and Noam Yaakov that I 100% believe that they’re an NBA level player, guys like Emanuel Sharp and Shon Abaev that are expected to make the league too.

We never had this amount of NBA players before.

It’s true that Deni wasn’t the first to make it to the league out of Israel, but Deni brought a lots of respect and I do think that he made NBA scouts give more attention to Israeli talent and it’s part of the Ben Saraf hype.

B: I think he definitely paved a path for young Israelis to follow, and we see Ben Saraf following it in a way and creating his own path in a way.

However the youth basketball development in Israel is far then satisfing, and it still has a long way to go.

C: I think Shon Abaev, Danny Wolf, Emanuel Sharp and Deni would be a crazy national team that’s gonna lead the country to glory. But, I think Shon would be crazy at the league and the most to step into Deni shoes.

D: With Deni Avdija’s presence in the NBA, I believe Israeli basketball has a bright future ahead. Deni’s success at such a high level will inspire more young Israelis to pursue basketball seriously and aim for the NBA. As his career progresses, he will likely become a role model, showing that it’s possible for Israeli players to compete at the highest levels. This could lead to more young talent emerging, increasing the profile of Israeli basketball both domestically and internationally.

My Answer: I’ve seen the influence he’s put on young Israelis especially with his training camps in the summers and all the young Israeli hoopers that follow me on instagram that have attributed their playing to Deni, I think Deni’s unique pathway to the draft through the Israeli league brought way to a path for many others to join him from Israel and alike

If you’ve been to a Deni game in person before what was your experience in that regard?

A: I have seen him play in youth basketball couple of times, as well as in pro Isarel matches.

I have also seen him play against the Bucks in Washington and even got a towel from him.

B: I think it was against the bucks and it was one of the best games of deni so that was cool,it was very special for me because it’s isn’t the same when you watch the game in the arena. At the end it was very unique experience and I hope to see him again in person.

C: I was so hype, I got there hours before and stayed after to meet him. I meet him 3 times 3 years in row and got game used stuff from him. The best time.

D: Fantastic you can see the passion the he brings every game and possession his truly something else he screams and you scream with him after dunks

E: It was amazing I flew with a friend to la and it was incredible (it was my first and last nba game live)

F: It was a dream of mine to be in NBA game for more than 30 years. Two years ago when I turned 50, I bought myself a present - to fly to the US and watch two of Deni’s games in DC. What an amazing and memorable experience! (And they won both of them!! Deni had 12 points and 17 points)

G: Deni scored 25 points with the Wizards in a win against the Celtics. AMAZING experience!!

H: Maccabi against Real in the Euroleague

My Answer: Took my little brother to his first Deni game the first game vs the Lakers last season and he brought a sharpie and his Deni card to get it signed it was so cute and spent like 500 on tickets to go to a place near the tunnel and although I came 2 hours early security didn’t allow me to go down to an empty row that was several seats next to me, my lil bro wanted to see LeBron play for the first time but right before the game it was announced he wasn’t playing, I didn’t have such a good time but seeing my little brothers face just overjoyed being at this game which I used all my savings at that point to go to I just realized how I should appreciate getting this opportunity, I have been to a couple Deni games already, while many in Israel who watch every game have never got to see him play live, what’s cool is the next game I bought cheaper seats just to have fun and went by myself and ended up dapping up Deni and seeing him get a tech on LeBron, I did get my jersey signed but not due to my own merits, near me was a boy who came all the way from Israel to watch Deni for his bar mitzvah and he only spoke Hebrew so I tried helping him out with the security guards who this time I actually in advance became chill with the guy, when I realized he didn’t have anything good to get signed I told him he could have my Deni jersey as a bar mitzvah present since I have many other jerseys and also didn’t bring a sharpie because of the disappointment of the past game, I also got to meet Deni’s parents in Portland when I flew there for my birthday and they were very nice but never got to meet Deni himself, but after this game this kid got the jersey I gifted him signed but the kid’s dad told me that he was uncomfortable keeping it and the kid wanted to give it to me, originally it made me very sad as I wanted the kid to have it but I realized Hashem does everything for a reason and it was meant to be, I know it wasn’t my experience getting it signed but still, that kid was so sweet and wish I could find out who he is and how to contact his parents to buy him a Deni jersey for his bar mitzvah present, Deni’s friends tried to get him to stay after the game to get something from Deni but idk the father was stressed so he left, but so was I, my phone was dying and had to get home, but here I am writing this article, I’m so grateful to have these experiences and I know more will come… (kinda a dump but was writing this last year so I’ll just keep this in)

Do you support any other teams or players besides for Deni, who and why?

A: Hapoel Jerusalem for many years

B: Cleveland in the past 2 years (3? Since Donovan moved there).

And the Lakers (since Kareem Abdul Jabbar was my hero)

C: Boston, since 2009.

D: Miami Heat because i was born there

D: Lakers fan, Jarred Vanderbilt and Austin Reaves.

With the Lakers I don’t even remember how it even started, I was just young and watched some hoops and became a fan.

With Austin Reaves it’s started when he was an undrafted white boy that earned a chance in 2022, I always liked his smart play and I watched him develop into a All Star caliber player which and he’s like our Lakers raised guy so he will always have a special place in my heart.

With Vando it started in 2023 when he got traded to the team, he quickly became my favorite on the team due to his hustle and intensity on the court which I always admired.

But the real difference was when he came to the Floyd Mayweather event for the victims of October 7. The fact that my favorite role player from my favorite team decided to show this kind of a support for my country that is super conversational Rn was so awesome. (This was An anonymous form but I’m pretty sure that I know this guy and he runs a big Vando fan page on Twitter and used to run a Reaves one)

My Answer: What’s crazy as a San Franciscan born Warriors fan I’ve been hardly watching games anymore even when Klay was playing Curry I tuned into the beginning and a little at the end but the rest of the time was watching Deni face the Timberwolves and thank god I was as he hit that shot over Ant, went so crazy, if you told me in 2019 I’d be watching every Blazers game and would even fly to Portland to see them play I’d laugh so hard, I wouldn’t believe that was possible

How has Deni’s journey in the NBA inspired you personally or impacted your connection to basketball?

A: Deni inspired me to work harder in every aspect of my life.

I saw how from an underrated role player defender, he became an All Star caliber player due to his hard workc and made believe that everything is possible if you’re putting the work in.

B: If it wasn’t for him (and Omri Casspi before) I wouldn’t get up to watch NBA before the playoffs

C: His Jewish pride, he’s always posting about Israel and when other NBA players see that, he sets an example of how passionate he is for his country.

D: Me and Deni are only 6 years apart so I’ve kind of grown up with him in a sense and he inspires me to put my head down and work and shut down all criticism around me

E: I’ve returned playing basketball after 20+ years - inspired by Deni!

F: Because of him I watch nba

G: Made me wanna be like him. Guess I wasn’t good enough but still

My Answer: I practice a lot of fast break plays now all thanks to Turbo even though I’m not the best at basketball even tho I’m really tall

How do you balance staying up late for games with other responsibilities, like work or school?

A: To be honest it’s super difficult because I’m losing sleep and drinking too much Caffiene because of it, but when I have something like a big test at the same day I will be waking up at 6 AM to watch a non ads replay before school to have some more sleeping time.

B: It is hard, I usually take naps after school when I get the chance.

But it definitely got a lot easier now that he moved to Portland and the games being at 4 5 Am.

C: I start working at 6:30 am so it’s kinda convenient, except waking up at 5:30 im waking up at 5:00 for his games. When he had earlier games i just need ti face the fact i will probably be super tired at work 😂

D: I’m a basketball player so if I’m wanna see a game I’m just going to sleep at 20:00 or something to just to not be tired.

E: Not very good usually I’m just stying up and then being very tired the next day, but while being in school I manage. Last year I also worked in pizza place that worked until late nights like 2-4am so a lot of the times I finished work just when the games started which was nice.

F: Luckily I work from home, and I work with a European team so I usually start late (and can grab a couple of hours to sleep before work)

G: Nowadays it’s tough but back in COVID19 days I was in school and I magaged my sleeping time a bit different - went to sleep at 20:00 and woke up at 3:00 for the 2nd half

My Answer: It’s pretty damn hard, but I get it done thank God.

What has been your favorite moment of Deni’s career so far, and why?

A: The 43 Point game against the Pelicans by far, it was the greatest performance by an Israeli Basketball player, Deni was trending on Twitter and brought so much pride to the whole state of Israel and the Jewish people.

B: There have been plenty, but i think my favourite was his stretch of games that was ended in his 43 pt 15 rb outburst against the Pelicans.

That week we felt like he can be an allstar in the NBA.

C: Deni vs Lebron, no doubt.

D: I think that my favorite moment of Deni’s career so far it’s when he did that dunk against the bucks when tristan vukcevic gave him the assist

E: Defiantly his 43 point game bs the pelicans last year, I was very sick that day and when I watched that game he gave me some help with kind of distracting me from my sickness. Which turned out really well

F: Trying to dunk on tacko fall in his rookie year was my favourite I love those highlight plays that he tries because he’s not afraid to fail

G: There are a lot of great moments especially this season the dunk vs the bucks lately or the taunting of LeBron, but my favorite was his rookie season where he matched up against Giannis as a rookie and just made his life so hard and got multiple stops and forced turnovers

H: A tough one… his career high game was definitely a notable moment, his behind the back pass to Porzingis, his dunk earlier this week vs. the Bucks.

The X move on stopping Giannis 3 years ago, the Turbo…

I: Deni’s dunk over GG DATOME in the euroleague! Was Deni’s first highlight

And then just a lot of 43 point game answers and one guy said “The 42 points game for obvious reasons”

My Answer: For a specific highlight it was probably his almost dunk on Tacko Fall but some others that speak out to me was his game winning block vs the Clippers, his buzzer shot vs the Hawks, his buzzer beating shot vs the Nets in his preseason debut game, but my favorite moment of Deni’s career BY FAR was his 25 point then career high against the Celtics in 2023 around.

How do you think Deni represents Israel and his Jewish pride on a global stage, both as an athlete and as a person, and how has that affected you/others?

A: I think that Deni represents Israel and the Jewish pride on the global stage in a super positive way, Deni is a nice guy that everyone likes, the fact that Deni isn’t like the 15th man on the roster and he’s actually a star is even greater, because the fact that we have an actual is such a big pride to our sports industry.

B: Really well as I said above, he’s always posting and saying Shabbat shalom, chag sameach and always posting about the hostages.

C: He absolutely does he posts almost every day on the hostages in Gaza and spreads awareness on fallen soldiers and one in a while he will do a gesture like write on his shoe something related and it seems like he is not afraid of supporting our country in public even if it may not be the best business decision

D: I think he is very loud in his support of Israel and Jewish people and really shows his love to the country and his boyhood club maccabi Tel Aviv.

E: First he is on our national team which awesome. He is representing normality and that we’re Jews and Israelis and we love basketball.

F: He doing good . In the end he just a player and human being not a politician so it feel like he doing good in this situation ( not forgetting his people)

G: Back in his Wizards days, I remember that Deni celebrated Purim holiday with the roster

My Answer: I’ve seen the effect in real time and it inspires me whenever Deni posts about jewish holidays and Israel and is just a positive beacon for others

If your still this far it means you are a super fan, If you could say one thing to Deni about your dedication as a fan, what would it be?

A: Sometimes Deni has some bad stretches it’s true, but you need to keep support him anyway, he had a tough time adjusting to Portland and moved to the bench. But with his hard work he became the best player on the Blazers, so keep supporting in the hard times because it’ll be worth it.

B: It’s important that you play for the National team of Israel this summer and in the future - that’s your “army reserve duty” (Also for the article you can use my first name: Itay)

C: Thank you Deni for being such an inspiration for everyone, I hope to maybe play basketball with you one day 🤞🙏

D: If we sometimes criticise it’s only because we know how great you can become and keep being fearless

E: I’d probably tell him I love watching him play and that he should continue play so good cause it makes it so much more fun to stay up

F: Yo Deni, just be yourself. Enjoy the road. We will always love you and be there for you.

Am Israel Chai 🇮🇱

G: Always proud of him, on good and bad times. Keep up the good work!

H: Thank you for giving me a reason to watch nba with emotion

I: Keep going! Next mission is being an ALLSTAR. Love from IL

J: To keep going and breaking barriers for us, so we can keep doing it in our own life

My Answer: Keep on fucking going, we love you Deni!

After hearing this Q and A with all these Deni fans around the world and hearing the answers from me, it’s only fair to end this off with a bang:

It all started in June 2019 when I came across a Bleacher Report mock draft for the 2020 NBA Lottery. Deni Avdija was ranked number four. (Here was the Top 4:

1. Anthony Edwards

2. Cole Anthony

3. RJ Hampton

4. Deni Avdija)

Seeing an Israeli especially someone Jewish on that list blew my mind. I read all about him and you know I wasn’t old enough to experience Omri Casspi being drafted, so Deni felt like the first big Israeli/Jewish NBA player I could witness. It didn’t take long before I was hooked. I was watching his highlights, learning about his games in Europe, and talking nonstop about him to anyone in my class who’d listen (and a lot of people who didn’t).

Back then, not everyone understood. Some of my friends even purposely called him the wrong name to get under my skin. But I didn’t care. I believed in him.

I started the page because of all the hate I saw. People online were calling for Deni’s injury and even his death, and it made me sick. I wanted to combat that hate with love. That’s when I decided to go all in, to make this page that celebrated Deni, supported him, and connected fans who feel the same way I do, and that’s what I’m trying to accomplish with this article as well but it hasn’t been easy. I’ve received the same hate Deni probably gets: death threats, insults, people trying to tear me down. But every time, I remember why I started. The nights staying up editing videos, making highlight reels, and posting content. I’ve set alarms for 2, 3, and 4 a.m. to edit, post early or catch games to scout young players back then like Ben Saraf. I remember watching Saraf in the FIBA U18 and feeling that same excitement I had for Deni back in 2019. These guys aren’t just athletes to me and all these other people in this article, they’re inspirations for our daily lives.

Looking back, I realize how much Deni gave me when I was at my lowest. There was a time when I didn’t know if I could keep going in life in general, but Deni gave me purpose. Connecting with other fans, sharing Deni’s story, and watching his growth reminded me that there’s always something worth fighting for. I’ll never forget when he told me before his first season as a Blazer, “I’m going to prove everyone wrong.” And he has. Watching his steady improvement year after year is proof of his dedication and heart.

Some of my favorite memories as a fan include moments I never thought would happen. Like when I flew to Portland just to see him play live or when I got my Deni jersey signed (after forgetting my sharpie the first time—lesson learned) and being a Deni fan is also about representing something bigger. Growing up in San Francisco, I watched Omri Casspi play for the Warriors, and I’ll never forget how he learned Tanya with my cousin or wrapped tefillin daily. I even flew back to SF just to watch Roman Sorkin in the California Classic. These players connect me to Israel, to my heritage to my Jewishness.

But being an Israeli basketball fan isn’t always easy. After October 7, the hate and lies about Israel online became overwhelming. It felt like no matter what I said, I couldn’t change people’s minds. That’s when I decided to stop arguing and focus on spreading love and positivity through my page. When I saw an article and podcast calling Deni “evil” and blaming him for things beyond absurd, I knew I had to show the world the truth. And that’s why I wrote this article; Deni inspires. He unites. He brings joy to people who need it most.

I’ve gone from being a kid writing about his favorite things on a blog to building a community that’s grown beyond anything I imagined and now my dreams are bigger than ever. I don’t just want to be an NBA journalist. I want to be a Shomer Shabbat journalist covering the league. I want to be someone who writes from the heart, who prioritizes truth over clicks. Over the years, my content has reached nearly a billion views. I’ve made money from it, sure (and lost a lot of money) but that’s not what matters. What matters is making people happy and sharing stories that inspire them.

This story started with Deni, and now it’s continuing with players like Ben Saraf. It’s come full circle. I’m proud to be part of this community, and I know this is just the beginning. Just like Deni said he’d prove everyone wrong, I plan to do the same.

I’ve been writing editing and making NBA content since 2019 I used to write about baseball in 2017 & 2018 and had a blog talking about my favorite things like foods, sports, music at 4 years old, I used to drag pictures from Google and now those pictures are so old they don’t exist on google anymore so if I go on the old website most of the photos are gone, I grew up watching Omri Casspi and now there are kids growing up watching Deni and it’s beautiful to see, whenever I feel sad these days and have a bad day I think how lucky I am to witness Deni live so much times and got to watch him at a good timezone every night he played for the first half of his career, i (wrote all of this last year and I typed up “hopefully this summer I can go see Saraf in person” and hell yeah I did, I ended up sitting right behind Sarah in the Summer League this summer and got to talk to him for a second)