The Portland Trail Blazers surprised the entire NBA in the 2025 draft when they traded into the No. 16 overall spot to select Yang Hansen.
The 7-foot-1 Chinese center was expected to be picked eventually, but not many saw him going that high, and so it immediately placed some extra expectations on Hansen.
His immediate NBA Summer League highlights created even more hype, to the point that he was dubbed the “Chinese Jokic.”
Obviously, there will likely not be a player equivalent to Nikola Jokic anytime soon, but the idea was understandable. Fans saw a tall, bulky center without a ton of athleticism but with lots of finesse and passing ability. They saw what the nickname suggested.
The problem is that Hansen isn’t actually Jokic, though. He’s hardly anything at all so far in his NBA career.
Where is Yang Hansen?
Hansen is on the Blazers’ roster but has played just one out of their first three games so far.
He got in during their 41-point win over the Suns on opening night, and he scored five points with three rebounds.
But in subsequent closer wins over the Kings and Lakers, Hansen hasn’t gotten off the bench.
It seems likely he’s ticketed for time in the G League, which he also got last season.
Portland used him for 43 games at the NBA level as a rookie, and Hansen averaged 7.0 minutes, 2.2 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.
In the G League last season, Hansen averaged 17.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.6 blocks per game — that’s the vision.
But the fact that Portland isn’t trusting Hansen with minutes in the early going suggests they don’t think he’s quite ready for a bigger role at this point.
Risk Proves True
The risk with Hansen, more so than most of the prospects in the 2025 draft class, was the ability to evaluate him.
He was playing professionally in China, a league at a lower level than the NCAA or many of the leagues across Europe. There was no perfect way for teams to know what Hansen’s accomplishments as a giant in a lesser league really meant for his NBA chances.
Hansen obviously had a promising skillset, and as high as the G League, he’s shown that to be true.
But that upper-end upside that can help a first-round pick pan out — it’s not clear if Hansen has it, and the Trail Blazers don’t seem to be in a rush to throw Hansen into the fire and really find out.
Trail Blazers’ Yang Hansen Missing From Hype as ‘Chinese Jokic’