It's way too early to conduct a redraft for a 2025 class that has yet to play a meaningful basketball game at the next level. But if summer league was any indication, extremely early returns on Portland Trail Blazers center Yang Hansen suggest that he already should've gone significantly higher than pick No. 16.
That's already quite the turnaround for Hansen and the Blazers, who were being heavily criticized by fans and analysts alike for their "reach" of someone who wasn't expected to go until the second round. You could make a strong case that Hansen was worthy of a top 10 pick, making this an ultimate maneuver by general manager Joe Cronin to pick up additional assets while landing the player they have been targeting for multiple years now.
Yang Hansen: The unconventional pick that's looking like genius
Hansen still has a long way to go as a prospect, but there's no denying he possesses a particular "it" factor required to be a star in the league. He already understands the game at an elite level, which was on display in summer league when he frequently directed teammates to get them in the right spot, whether it was as a help defender or to open a lane for Hansen to find them for a backdoor cut.
Passing is Hansen's standout trait, but he also has the footwork and ability to space the floor to make him a scoring threat down the road. There's at least something behind the "Chinese Jokic" comparisons that should have the Blazers excited about the possibility that they landed a franchise-altering gem in the draft.
Evaluating draft prospects isn't this black-and-white, but a primary differentiator between what makes someone worthy of a top ten pick is their star upside. Oftentimes, teams picking this early lack star power and need to take a home run swing to put their franchise back on the map, such as the Brooklyn Nets selecting polarizing prospect Egor Demin at No. 8, for instance.
Yang Hansen proves the Blazers were right to trade back
Despite their 15-win improvement, Portland remains a team desperately needing star power. They managed to land a prospect with that ceiling despite falling back in the draft twice -- once due to a lottery tiebreaker loss to the Phoenix Suns, once by choice in a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Blazers were in a difficult spot picking No. 11 in the 2025 NBA Draft, widely viewed to have a consensus top eight of prospects. While not all eight top prospects were selected within the first eight picks quite as expected, none remained by the time Portland was on the clock. The Suns landed the final prospect from that tier at No. 10, selecting Duke center Khaman Maluach.
The Blazers' position gave them two logical options to maximize value: aggressively trade into that tier, or strategically trade back. Of course, Portland wisely chose the latter. The Blazers traded back with the Grizzlies to No. 16, picking up an additional first-round pick (2028 via Orlando) and two second-round picks in the process.
The rest is history, as they went with the most unconventional pick in the entire draft in Hansen. Fortunately for the Blazers, that decision is trending closer to genius than foolish by the day.