The Portland Trail Blazers have selected little-known Chinese center Yang Hansen with the 16th pick in 2025 NBA Draft:
Sources: The Portland Trail Blazers will select Hansen Yang with the No. 16 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft as part of a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies.
Yang played for Chinese club Qingdao last season, averaging 16.6 points on 33.3 percent from three, 10.5 boards, 3.0 assists, 1.0 steals and 2.6 blocks. He was also the 2024 CBA Defensive Player of the Year.
The 20-year-old measures at 7’1 with a 7’2 wingspan and 253 pounds and worked out for the Blazers in late May.
The Ringer mocked Yang at pick 40:
There’s a clear idea of what Yang’s aspiring to be. The skills needed to get there just haven’t fully developed. He’s a willing 3-point shooter, but not a consistent one. As a post-dominant player, he peppers defenders with bumps like a methodical boxer who picks his spots, but you can see his balance and processing start to break down once bigger and stronger defenders put an arm on him to attempt to push him off of his spot. Yang moves his feet well, but before we invoke the names of players like Alperen Sengun or Nikola Jokic, he’ll need to better navigate contact from physical defenders. Interior defenders in the NBA are not wilting flowers who just take a minor hit and give up; they hit and fight back. Yang is only 19, but players often have this aggressive streak hardwired into their games by this point.
Yang uses his massive hands to comfortably hold the ball out and away from his body, which helps him thread the needle on passes. However, he has a long way to go to manipulate space and defenders with his passing, the way those other elite, ground-bound bigs do. He can linger on the ball for a beat too long, which is a concern in a faster environment. Yang’s impressive size and mobility were good enough to make him a rim deterrent in the Chinese Basketball Association, but he will need to grow significantly on offense to compensate for the challenges that lie ahead on the defensive end against bigger and faster athletes. All in all, he’s a long-term bet, and one that’ll require some time and patience.
He’s been compared to Luke Kornet and Alperen Sengun.
The Blazers now have five centers in Yang, Deandre Ayton, Donovan Clingan, Robert Williams, and Duop Reath.
Earlier in the evening, the Blazers drafted Washington State wing Cedric Coward with the 11th pick before trading him for pick 16, Orlando Magic’s 2028 first, and two seconds.
