Portland Trail Blazers rookie Yang Hansen continues to draw comparisons to Nikola Jokic after his Summer League performance.
Trail Blazers' Yang Hansen Continues to Draw Nikola Jokic Comparisons After Recent Statistics Surface originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The 2025 Las Vegas NBA Summer League came to a close on Sunday night with the Charlotte Hornets defeating the Sacramento Kings to win the Summer League championship.
Of course, there were many standouts during this year’s Summer League but a ton of eyes were on Portland Trail Blazers’ rookie Yang Hansen after they selected him 16th overall in the 2025 NBA Draft.
For Hansen, he was expected to be a second-round pick during June’s draft but the Trail Blazers saw something in him as they traded up with the Memphis Grizzlies to select him 16th overall.
Hansen has been labeled as “Chinese Jokic” due to his similar skillsets as Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic and the comparisons continued to grow as his Summer League statistics surfaced.
During the 2025 Summer League, Hansen averaged 10.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.6 blocks per game.
In the 2015 Summer League, Jokic averaged 8.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.4 blocks per game.
Yang Hansen 2025 Summer League vs. Nikola Jokic 2015 Summer League 👀
— Basketball Forever (@bballforever_) July 21, 2025
‘Chinese Jokic’ living up to his nickname 🔥 pic.twitter.com/M5ecXDBDfz
With their numbers being nearly the same, Hansen has continued to draw comparisons to Jokic, which has put a ton of pressure on the 20-year-old big man.
Of course, Hansen was dominant last season in China as he averaged 16.6 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.0 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 58.6% from the field and 33.3% from three.
Now the Chinese big man will try to replicate his success overseas in the NBA with the Trail Blazers but for him to live up to his “Chinese Jokic” nickname, he will have to have a strong start to his NBA career.
Blazers first-round pick Yang Hansen continues to impress in #NBA2KSummerLeague action!
— NBA (@NBA) July 16, 2025
🔥 15 points
🔥 4 rebounds
🔥 3 triples
🔥 2 blocks pic.twitter.com/QLGnVSa6rQ
Despite this, Hansen should see a ton of playing time during his rookie season in Portland after the Trail Blazers bought out Deandre Ayton, leaving Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams III as the only centers on their roster.
While that may be the case, it will take a lot for Hansen to live up to his comparisons to Jokic as Jokic is arguably the best basketball player in the world currently.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 21, 2025, where it first appeared.
Category: Basketball
