Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley recently highlighted every team's biggest offseason regret one month into the 2025-26 season. For the Portland Trail Blazers, that regret lies in their unconventional draft selection of Yang Hansen. Not necessarily the pick itself, but rather their inability to maximize the value of the pick with Hansen buried on the depth chart.
"It was a fascinating wager on his unique skill level for his size (7'1", 270 lbs) and immediately made the Blazers a must-watch team on the summer circuit. There were pressing questions even before his arrival, though, about whether he could keep up with the NBA's speed," Buckley writes.
Hansen has already shown promising flashes to justify the draft gamble. But as Buckley notes, he's yet to earn significant minutes in Portland's crowded frontcourt, especially given the legitimate concerns surrounding his ability to adapt to the pace of the NBA.
"Those questions are no closer to being answered, since he's buried so far on the depth chart. Remember, just last year Portland used the No. 7 pick on a different center (Donovan Clingan), and it has held onto both Robert Williams III and Duop Reath. That's why Hansen has, to this point, logged only 29 more NBA minutes than you and I."
The Blazers aren't putting Yang Hansen in a position to succeed
Isn't putting him into the fire and letting him go through these growing pains a necessary part of Hansen's steep learning curve? It feels like the Blazers are delaying the inevitable, keeping Williams around as insurance in case he doesn't pan out -- but Williams' very presence could be hurting Hansen's chances of panning out!
Hansen's inability to consistently crack interim head coach Tiago Splitter's rotation highlights the ongoing catch-22 that Portland faces with its roster. As a rebuilding team, they overvalued their veterans and held onto them for far too long. Their young core should've been made the top priority from the start, but the Blazers are also finally trying to win now, so their youth may not be placed in optimal developmental positions to succeed.
That was the case with Scoot Henderson and (previously) Shaedon Sharpe, and it appears that Hansen is the latest casualty of general manager Joe Cronin's attempt to straddle two timelines.
That said, the Blazers shouldn't have many offseason regrets as Cronin has navigated their rebuild relatively well to this point. Anfernee Simons and Deandre Ayton are additions by subtraction. But despite Ayton's departure, they now have another problem at the center spot they can't solve, as the center ahead of Hansen is the one they invested a top-10 pick in just the year prior.
It raises the question of what the plan has been for Hansen all along and why they made this selection in the first place, especially given other glaring roster flaws, such as shooting, that they have yet to address.