Surprising picks and stunning trades are through lines each year at the NBA Draft and part of what makes the event such a fascinating spectacle. But the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday during the first round of the draft made a selection so unexpected and so astonishing -- drafting Chinese center Yang Hansen at No.

The center was considered by draft analysts as a rising prospect, but no one projected him to be a first-round pick.

The Portland Trail Blazers gave fans one of the biggest surprises of the 2025 NBA Draft by selecting center Yang Hansen with the 16th overall pick via a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies. Hansen wasn't expected to go this high in the NBA Draft, as the 7-foot-2 center will join an upstart Trail Blazers team.