Portland Trail Blazers' Israeli native misses game for Yom Kippur: 'More important things than basketball'

The Portland Trail Blazers' first preseason game was on Friday night, but they were without one of their newly acquired players.

The team traded for Deni Avdija after the best season of his young career, but he was listed as out for a "personal" reason.

That reason? The Israeli native was observing Yom Kippur.

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In an Instagram Story on Thursday night, Avdija announced that he would be missing the game, and the decision had been a no-brainer.