The NBA has fined the Portland Trail Blazers $100,000, and Assistant General Managers Sergi Oliva and Mike Schmitz have each been suspended two weeks without pay for violating league rules governing contact with draft-ineligible players in 2023, the league announced on Wednesday evening.
This violation, which occurred in December 2023, is in connection with the team's scouting of 2025 first-round pick Yang Hansen. Portland selected Hansen with the 16th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
In a statement provided to ESPN, the team said they self-reported the violation to the NBA when they first learned about it. After cooperating fully with the league office and the investigation, the Blazers say they have accepted the NBA's findings.
No appeal will be coming from the Trail Blazers, and the two front-office executives will serve their suspension for the violation at hand.
Before joining the Trail Blazers as an assistant general manager in 2022, Oliva served as a basketball operations analyst for the Philadelphia 76ers and was an assistant for the Utah Jazz from 2020-2022.
Schmitz is a name familiar to many NBA fans, particularly those who follow the NBA Draft.
In his fourth season with the Blazers, Schmitz primarily focuses on evaluating talent both in America and internationally due to his extensive background working as an acclaimed draft analyst for ESPN. He was one of the main contributors to DraftExpress, the best basketball scouting and analytics website, alongside ESPN draft expert Jonathan Givony.
While it is unknown exactly what happened between Oliva, Schmitz, and Hansen, there was a clear violation of the NBA code regarding contact with international draft prospects, which is why the Blazers self-reported the incident upon uncovering these details.
No further punishment is expected at this time, and the two executives will serve their suspensions.
When the Blazers traded up to select Hansen in 2025, he became just the ninth Chinese-born player to be drafted to the NBA, and the highest Chinese player selected in the draft since Yi Jianlian went sixth overall in 2007 to the Milwaukee Bucks.
In 41 appearances during his rookie season, Hansen has averaged 2.3 points and 1.6 rebounds in roughly 7.2 minutes per game. He has spent the bulk of his time playing for the Rip City Remix in the NBA G League, averaging 17.1 points and 9.1 rebounds per game in 14 games.
