Almost everybody knows by now that the Portland Trail Blazers drafted center Yang Hansen with the 16th pick of the 2025 NBA Draft. It was the shock of the first round of the draft, a bigger swing than even the Utah Jazz taking Ace Bailey in the 5th spot or the Brooklyn Nets selecting Egor Demin 8th overall.

Everybody also knows that Hansen is a native of China, suiting up with the Qingdao Eagles of the Chinese Basketball Association before the Blazers drafted him.

What you may not know is that the discourse surrounding the 20-year-old has been shaded by his nationality already, sometimes in positive ways but also to the negative.

Let’s start with a couple of affirmations.

First, the Blazers have announced that their new center will wear the name “Yang” on the back of his uniform. He, himself, has let the public know that he prefers the traditional Asian ordering of his name, with the surname first followed by the given name. Nobody is more expert on Yang Hansen than he is. It’s literally his name. In accordance with his wishes, we will now be referring to him as “Yang Hansen” at Blazer’s Edge. We invite you to do the same in comments on site.

Second, the Blazers have told the world that Yang was their target all along, for years before the actual draft. They coveted him enough to draft him earlier in the order than any other team. Fans and analysts alike can argue with their judgment. That’s fair. But it’s not fair to ascribe any other motive to them than the one they’ve stated, particularly if that motive is wrapped up in Yang’s nationality.

Already, less than 24 hours into the process, we’ve seen and heard the following:

Here’s the point: you’re not going to see any of these things from the staff here at Blazer’s Edge. (If you ever did, we would address it immediately.) We’ll do what we always do...talk about basketball. We invite you to do the same with Yang and every other NBA player.

There’s been a storm of comments on site surrounding the draft, thousands upon thousands over the last few days. We’ve done the best we can to moderate those. Frankly, we’re re-learning how to do that. At this point, we probably won’t go back and correct every wrong or respond to every gray-area assertion. But from this point forward, with Yang and every other player, we’re going to do the best we can keep the conversation above board in the comment section. That means no racism, casual or otherwise, intentional or unintended. If you notice a comment that goes over the line, you’re able to flag that to get the attention of the moderation team. We’ll be in the comments participating in discussions too. Let’s all do what we can to make Portland a welcoming community for all players and this site an amazing place to talk basketball.

And seriously, welcome Yang Hansen. We hope your Blazers journey stands out as one of the best experiences of your life.

Dave Deckard, Managing Editor