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After barely missing the play-in tournament with a 36-46 record, the Portland Trail Blazers were rewarded with another lottery pick, nabbing the 11th overall pick of the 2025 NBA Draft. They then decided to trade out of the lottery altogether, dealing away that selection to the Memphis Grizzlies for the 16th pick, a 2028 first-round pick, and two second-rounders. And then in a shocking turn of events, the Blazers, despite already having four centers on the roster, decided to select 7'1″ Chinese star Hansen Yang with the pick they got from the Grizzlies.
Yang tore up the Chinese Basketball Association in his two seasons in the league. He averaged 15.8 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks while shooting 56.9 percent from the field, and at just 20 years of age, he certainly had his merits as a draft prospect. Alas, no talent evaluator had him going off the board in the first round, making the Blazers' selection of him at pick 16 that big of a shock.
In fact, one front office executive for an unnamed team texted ClutchPoints NBA insider Brett Siegel that the Blazers' pick of Yang is the “wildest” he's ever seen and that pick alone should put the jobs of the executives responsible for the selection “on the line”.
It's not quite clear what the Blazers aim to achieve with the selection of Yang, and this early as well. It would have been a confounding pick already had they made it in the second round, considering how many centers they already have on the roster. But for them to use a first-round pick in the middle of the first round to select someone they could have drafted 20 picks later has the entire NBA world up in arms.
Fans clown the Blazers for their confounding Hansen Yang selection
In three years, the Blazers may have the last laugh regarding their confusing Yang selection. But for now, they have become the butt of the joke among NBA fans who couldn't comprehend why they would make this pick.
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“Blazers got 3 Centers now what are they doing 😭 Ayton Clingan and Yang,” X user @EdeyMuse wrote.
“The Blazers won a couple extra games in the second half of the season… for a Yang Hansen. Let that sink in,” @JoeFisch3 added.
“Drafting Hansen Yang at 16th just solved NBA's low viewership problem,” @zyjohnw posted in jest.
Yang is a Klutch Sports client, and perhaps that played a part in him being drafted way earlier than nearly everyone expected.
“Klutch sports got Hansen Yang drafted top 16,” @MVPnuby asserted.
“Klutch made Hansen Yang more than 10 million dollars by getting him picked 16th,” @mrcmon added.
