The Portland Trail Blazers swung for the fences this offseason, taking universally projected second-round pick Yang Hansen with the No. 16 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. While it's too early to definitively say they struck out with this pick, in baseball terms, they are looking at an 0-2 count.
This was not the season Blazers fans were hoping to get out of their rookie after enduring another long, losing season. Portland won 36 games last year and essentially could have nothing to show for it. The only thing that looks encouraging is the future first-round pick they acquired in their draft-day trade with the Memphis Grizzlies, but even then, it's coming from an Orlando Magic team projected to be near the top of the Eastern Conference by 2028.
Blazers should regret their Yang Hansen gamble
Hansen looked promising throughout the summer league, but the Blazers were hit with a significant reality check once he reached the NBA level. Unfortunately, concerns about his inability to adjust to the game's speed came to fruition the moment he touched the court.
Now, interim head coach Tiago Splitter has made those instances when Hansen touches the court few and far between. Despite the Blazers' early-season injuries, Hansen has played 21 games, averaging 8.1 minutes per contest. Hansen finally got a role in Portland's recent 111-105 win over the Houston Rockets. He didn't help his case, finishing with two points while shooting 1-of-5 from the field in 13 minutes of play.
Splitter understandably doesn't want to throw Portland's rookie into the fire, but this raises the question of what the plan was for Hansen in the first place.
The Blazers already had their center of the future in Donovan Clingan and had multiple intriguing options to choose from at pick No. 11, including their initial selection, Cedric Coward, whom they traded to Memphis.
Perhaps Portland felt as though they were so behind in the star power race in the Western Conference that their only way to catch up was by hitting a home run. But now they're left to deal with the downsides of taking on such a significant risk. The opportunity cost of missing on this pick continues to grow as prospects like Coward and Derik Queen have already emerged as key contributors on their respective teams.
They also potentially could've traded back with the New Orleans Pelicans, who sent their unprotected 2026 first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks to land Queen at No. 13. Remind you, the Pelicans currently sit at the bottom of the Western Confernece with a 8-29 record, which would give them a 14% chance at the No. 1 overall pick and a 52.1% shot at landing in the top four. With prospects like Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, and Cameron Boozer already emerging as strong options in the 2026 class, every team that picked before Atlanta needs to be wondering why they weren't the ones to come away with this valuable an asset.
The silver lining is that even if Portland missed on the Hansen pick, their rebuild is still in good shape with Deni Avdija, Shaedon Sharpe, Donovan Clingan, and others. But in terms of young cores, they still remain a tier below juggernauts like the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.
Hitting on this pick would've gone a long way to catching up out west, but the Blazers are left to look elsewhere for ways to achieve that.