A look into the lengthy journey that led the Trail Blazers to make the NBA draft’s most surprising pick

Assistant general managers for the Portland Trail BlazersSchmitzand, MikeIn the fall of 2023, Sergi Oliva went on a fact-finding trip to China.

Their objective was to see whether Yang Hansen, a teenage center, lived up to the hype that one international scout who had saw him play in a FIBA U-19 world tournament, other scouts, and video analysts had told them.

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