Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin entered the 2025 NBA Draft with a plan that no one outside the organization saw coming. The Blazers stole Yang Hansen, taking a worthwhile gamble on a widely projected second-round pick with the No. 16 overall selection.
Although it's still a shock around the NBA world, this plan was actually two years in the making for Portland. Cronin addressed the media after the unconventional selection, saying that Hansen was the target heading into the draft because of how impressed he left the Blazers scouts during one of his under-18 events and a follow-up trip to China.