Hansen Yang 2025 NBA Draft Profile

Hansen Yang 2025 NBA Draft Profile

We are just over one week away from the 2025 NBA Draft! Today, we will be previewing international prospect Hansen Yang, who was one of the best bigs at this year’s combine! Let’s jump right into it!

Height (no shoes): 7’1 (7’2.25 wingspan, 9’3 standing reach)

Weight: 252.6

Draft Age: 19.9

Position: Big

Yang is one of the most skilled bigs in the class, spending the last two seasons in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA … no, not the collective bargaining agreement). He also represented Team China in the 2023 U19 World Cup, averaging 12.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 5.0 blocks across seven games. In his most recent season in the CBA, the 7-footer averaged 16.2 points and 10.0 rebounds on 59.5 percent shooting and 63.6 percent true shooting. Let’s dive into his profile!

Strengths:

What makes Yang as skillful as he is, is his passing.

The DHO has become a more modernized staple in NBA offenses; he’ll be able to perform in those actions right away. He did it consistently in the CBA and in the combine; he was good initiating above the break in Chicago actions (pin-down –> DHO) with fairly good ball-security and decision-making. Yang didn’t try to force the issue when it wasn’t there and was willing to flow into a secondary/tertiary read or action.

He has a good-not-great handle at his size. It’s easy to do at 7-foot-1, but Yang did an excellent job locating cutters and off-ball movers. Yang not only knew which pass to throw, but had good velocity, timing and accuracy with the passes he did throw. He’s also comfortable at making those reads out of the post (where a lot of his offense came) or at the elbows.

The 7-footer has good footwork in the post and a soft touch around the rim. Most of his offense came in the low post. He has massive mits–his hand height and width were both the third-highest in the class. His size and hand length allowed him to have a huge catch radius in those situations. There were times when guards were throwing passes at his ankles on the move (a pet peeve of mine), but he was still able to corral them more often than not.

As a result of his (hand) size, the 19-year-old is a good rebounder and good shot blocker, though I have concerns about how translatable his defense will be at the next level. His floor, if he plays 25 minutes a night at the G-League or NBA level, is a double-double. He’s too massive otherwise.

Weaknesses:

I have genuine concerns about how Yang fares athletically and physically at the next level.

For one, he’s a slow-footed big … like, really slow-footed. In my film study, his reps in drop were bad: He didn’t position himself well between the ballhandler and roller, react quickly enough to what was happening in front of him and he consistently had his hands near his hips. Yang doesn’t move well laterally and consistently gets blown by in space against quicker guards. They didn’t play him near the level all that much, either.

Yang didn’t run the floor very well–even at 7-foot-1, 250-plus pounds. He’s also not strong enough to withstand NBA physicality, which could put him in consistent foul trouble. He’s a good shot blocker at his size, but I think he needs to get stronger so he can absorb more contact.

He still has room to grow as a shooter. He shot just 28.6 percent from 3-point range and 67.7 percent from the free-throw line in 53 CBA games this season. The 7-footer wasn’t afraid to expand his range at the combine, but his floor spacing is a big work in progress. Yang needs to improve as a screener. He has a wide frame, but isn’t always set at the point-of-contact, especially in DHOs.

Projection: Mid Second Round

In most classes, I’d have an undrafted grade on Yang. I still believe he will have to crawl through the G-League before earning a spot in the NBA. He’s too slow and can’t shoot. He’s not a fluid mover and has too many questions athletically for me to say he’s NBA-ready right away. He’s skilled, but he’s still young with room to grow and will have to show that growth before he gets his opportunity.

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