To My New Friends

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My name is Hansen Yang. I’m 20 years old and come from the town of Zibo, in the Shandong Province of China. In June, many of you watched my dream come true when the Portland Trail Blazers drafted me — and no one was more surprised than me! Now I live about 6,300 miles away from my hometown, in Portland, Oregon, and I am preparing for my first season as a rookie in the NBA.

I wanted to write this letter to introduce myself to all my new friends here in America and the basketball fans near and far who are curious to learn a little bit about where I come from and how I got here. I am still learning English, so I thought it would be cool to write this in Chinese first, and then have it translated for you all. But before I tell you my whole story, there is one quick thing I should probably cover first:

I know for some people in the U.S., my name can be difficult. Or confusing.

That is OK. No worries. I understand why. 

Sometimes you see Yang Hansen. Sometimes it’s Hansen Yang — and people often ask me, “What do we even call you?”

Well … I will tell you!

The best way to think about it is, in China, we place the family name, our last name, first. So, it is written Yang (my family or last name, pronounced “YOUNG”) and then Hansen (my first name, pronounced “HAN-SEN”). But in the U.S. the names are switched — so in America it would be Hansen Yang, and you’ll see Yang on the back of my Blazers jersey. 

All you really need to know, though, is that everyone just calls me Hansen, and that works great for me! (If you get confused or tripped up, don’t worry at all. You can just smile and say hello, and I will appreciate that very much.)

So now you’re wondering, how did I get here? 

It’s because I’m tall, right? 

No. 

Everyone thinks that when you are very tall at a young age, it is obvious that you will be a star basketball player one day, but this was not the case with me. 

As a little kid I was actually a bit chubby, and I was introduced to basketball because my parents wanted me to stay in shape haha!

Back then, my dad loved watching Chinese Basketball Association games. We had a very small TV, and it was always tuned in to the CBA. My dad would be like “Look at that shot!” or “You have to see this pass!!!” He loved it, but I would yawn, because at that age it all seemed a bit boring to me. 

To be fair, school was also boring, and I wasn’t the best student — I struggled sitting there in silence in the classroom, and any subjects involving numbers, those were my least favorite. And chemistry, too. In China, school is very important, so if you are not a good student, you need to find another path, and my parents knew that I had potential in sports. So when I was 7, they signed me up to train with a basketball coach at a middle school in Zibo…. 

And I hated that even more than math!

It gets very hot in Zibo in the summer, and they made us play outside. I would sweat so much. It was terrible. Sometimes I would refuse to change into my gym clothes in the morning. Then, if I did get dressed, I would refuse to get out of the car when we got to the school. If I got out of the car … I would refuse to walk to the basketball courts. I rebelled against it in every way I could. 

It went like that all the way up to fourth grade. That’s when everything changed for me. Our town converted an old factory into an indoor basketball court, and this was HUGE. After playing for years only on outdoor courts in the hot sun, I finally got to play inside. Suddenly practicing became bearable.  

The crazy thing is, even though I played and played, I was still chubby hahaha! And just because I was taller than most kids, it didn’t mean I was better than them. To this day, I still remember this one kid I would scrimmage against who was much shorter than me but would always destroy me on the court. I was no competition for him. And many of the other kids were also better than me. 

When I entered the Zibo Sports Academy in fifth grade, I remember I was sad and cried at first because I had to live there and be away from my family. And on the court, I was still very raw. Up to that point, I had basically only practiced dribbling. During those years, when I was around 10 or 11, I really felt like I was bad at the game, and it was a tough time for me. My confidence was very low because all of my teammates seemed to play so much quicker and with more skill than me. 

But there was even more to it than that. They also just seemed to be so much more into basketball overall than I was, you know what I mean?

For example, I remember the first NBA game I ever watched was that Cavs-Warriors Game 7 of the 2016 Finals. I guess I was 10 then. Now, in 2025 … of course, I realize it was an incredible game. Back then, though? At that time? Honestly it seemed very boring to me. I was with all my teammates, and they were all yelling and jumping around with each big play. But I just wasn’t as into watching the game as they were. 

It was almost like I didn’t really belong. On the court, everyone seemed faster than me. Then, when our games were over, my friends always wanted to talk about basketball and watch games and focus on the sport. And I wasn’t like that at all. 

I would rather be playing video games. Or just taking a nice quiet nap. 

There were times when I thought about quitting, but one of the things that motivated me to improve my game was food. I really love to eat. I liked everything the school served — barbecue, hot pot, fried rice … just everything. And somehow even though I ate more, my weight began to lessen, which helped me play better and move faster. By high school, I had learned and grown as a player.

But I still didn’t really love the game as much as my friends. I did enjoy watching LeBron and Steph when they were on TV, and, because I kept growing taller and was playing center, I learned things by watching videos of Yao Ming and Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard. But I never thought I could become a professional player back then. 

I remember the first NBA game I ever watched was that Cavs-Warriors Game 7 of the 2016 Finals. I guess I was 10 then.

- Yang Hansen

Still, I kept playing. I did not stop. And there are these things … in China we have these certificates you can earn that mean you have achieved a certain level in your sport. You had to be one of the top eight players in your province to get the Level 2 certificate, and I got that when I was 14 or so. Then, to get to Level 1, you had to be top-eight in the entire country. I earned that in high school when I was playing on the youth team for the CBA’s Qingdao Guoxin Club.  

At one point, a coach for that team asked me which centers I liked to watch, and I responded the same way I always had when someone asked me that question. Yao Ming or Shaq, basically. But this guy, he told me: “Pay attention to Nikola Jokic from now on.”

From there, I studied Jokic. I learned everything I could from watching how he played as a big man who passed and saw the floor like a guard. (A couple of weeks ago, my manager surprised me with a signed Jokic jersey, and it is one of the greatest things I have ever received.) I modeled my game after his in every way I could. 

I was 17 then, and I had gotten good enough to be practicing with Qingdao’s first team. But you can’t play in the CBA until you’re 18. So I had to wait, and all I could do was train. 

When I finally got a chance to play in the CBA, I still never thought I would be more than just an average basketball player. I thought making it to the NBA was unrealistic for me — impossible, really. 

I remember one day there was a film analyst for our U18 team who came up to me and told me: “Hansen, you can make it to the NBA, you know. You can really do it if you try. I believe in you. You should try for the NBA draft one day.”

I just laughed.

Like … “Stop joking.” 

Right around that time, I was playing in a tournament, and at first the commentators were having trouble saying my name, but then they realized that my last name is actually pronounced the same as “Young.” And, of course, my first name sounds like “handsome.” So they started calling me “Handsome Young.” And I guess the rest is history. Or at least T-shirt history. 

I just thought it was all so silly. I didn’t deserve that attention. I still didn’t feel like I was very good.

But through all the games and international tournaments I played in, I finally began to gain confidence. After two years in the CBA, I realized I had improved significantly as a player. Making it to the NBA draft stopped being something I joked about or dismissed.

Pre-draft was a blur for me — I just remember how busy everything was. I flew so much, and visited so many cities. 

In those workouts, I was quite … how do you say it? I guess the word would be aggressive. I wanted to showcase my skills, but, as part of that, I wanted to show that I wasn’t soft. So I would talk smack to the people I was going up against and try to provoke them. I would play mental games and taunt them. Maybe some teams weren’t expecting that from me, and when I showed that side, maybe they liked it, I don’t know. 

At least maybe Portland did.

And now, of course, since that night when the Trail Blazers drafted me, everything in my life has changed … and I’m still getting used to all this new attention. And here is where I should probably say something I have wanted to say for a while: I am sorry that I still haven’t responded to everyone who texted me with congratulations on draft night. You have to understand ... I am terrible at texting. I do a bad job of replying to people. This is not an excuse; it’s just how I am. It drives my parents crazy. They always text me things like, “Do you remember that you still have parents?” and “Remember me?” I need to be better. So, to all those people I haven’t responded to, I just want to say THANK YOU! And I’ll text back soon....

Now that I’m in Portland and training, I’m excited to continue putting in work and learning how I can be the best player I can be for my team and teammates, both on and off the court. It’s one thing to be a rookie, but me? I’m really a rookie at everything when you consider how far I’ve come to be here. 

You have to start somewhere, though, right?

I am working hard every day. And I am trying to contribute what I can to those around me as I go, and putting in all the effort I can to be able to go out there and make everyone in Portland and China proud. 

I am so grateful and fortunate to be able to make Portland my new home. It is such a beautiful place. I love that it is quiet and calm, and the air, it is so … fresh!

I don’t have a driver’s license, so I have just been walking everywhere since I arrived. (Have you seen me?  I am hard to miss.) I’m pretty sure at this point I have already tried every Chinese restaurant near where I’m living. When you love food like I do, that is a must. I cannot live without Chinese food. (I plan on perfecting my shou zhua fan this season, so if people want me to, I will post the dish on social media so everyone can see how I’m doing.) And the local Chinese community in Portland has already been so welcoming to me. When people see me in restaurants, they call out my name from across the room. They will shout it out and have a big smile and wave hello. 

Of course, it is not just Chinese people who have been kind to me in Portland. It’s been everyone. There have been thousands. People see me out walking and roll down their car window and cheer or tell me, “Welcome to Portland!” It has really warmed my heart. I want to do everything I can on the court to show them that I appreciate their support.

And don’t worry, I am staying disciplined with my English lessons and tutoring, so soon I will be able to hold a full conversation when we meet around town. I’m now at the point where I am picking up four or five words in every sentence, which might not seem like much. But a month ago, I only understood one or two words per sentence. So, things are improving.

Before I end, I very much just want to mention one last thing. Something that is extremely special to me that I have thought a lot about since draft night and moving to the U.S. 

One of the coolest things for me about being picked by Portland is just … the team name.

TRAIL BLAZERS

I find that name interesting. And so fitting for me.

As we all know, it has been a long while since a player from China has been drafted into the NBA. So I am very fortunate to be in the position I am, to be someone representing China at the very highest level of basketball. And I take that responsibility seriously. There are so many talented basketball players in China, so many young kids full of passion who are working hard every day to maybe someday make it to the NBA. If you go on social media, they are everywhere. The future is very bright in my view. 

And this is why, to me, Trailblazers is such a perfect name for my new team. 

It is full of power and hope. 

I want to create my own path in the NBA. And to be successful. But, at the same time, that is just the beginning. It is only a small part of what I hope is next. My goal is to inspire athletes back home in China, just like Yao did for me, and to show them that it is possible for them to also be a first-round NBA draft pick in the future and to create their own path.   

But to all those kids back in China who will be following my first season in the NBA this year, I want to say …  just promise me something, please, if you can.… 

Don’t sacrifice your sleep too much just to watch me play in games. I worry about this, you know? That time difference … I hope that people in China will cheer me on, of course … but without impacting your daily life too much. Or losing any sleep. 

You never know where this life may take you. You must be ready for it and be well rested!

And never be afraid to dream big! 

–Hansen