People tend to learn from mistakes. It is a natural human ability to attempt the avoidance of the misgivings that have developed properties of infamy by any means.

The Portland Trail Blazers are one such example. They did not have their own pick in the 2014 NBA draft so they can be forgiven to some extent yet they still made no attempt to claim a selection by trading. Any involvement could have meant the selection of Nikola Jokić who instead went to the Denver Nuggets with the 41st overall pick. The 19-year-old Serbian had finished his second season as a professional with Mega Vizura where he posted a respectable 11.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. What was most impressive though for the 6’11” center was his passing ability with an average of 2.5 assists per game.

How this unusual playmaking big man would develop as part of his NBA career is no mystery now: he is a three-time most valuable player and seven-time all-star and led the Nuggets to their first ever championship in 2023. In addition, he is one of only three players to ever average a triple-double for a season. His 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists during the 2024–25 season meant he accomplished an incredibly rare feat that has only been achieved by two point guards in Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson. Jokić is an anomaly that was missed by the teams that made 40 selections before he was drafted.

The Trail Blazers have the most notorious draft error of all-time to their name: the selection of Sam Bowie at #2 over Michael Jordan at #3 in 1984. To their credit, they have learned since and have made no hesitations at selecting prospects who come from unusual backgrounds. They chose their eventual franchise superstar Damian Lillard with pick 6 in 2012 to make him the first ever player from Weber State University selected in the first round. The Trail Blazers partnered him with CJ McCollum with the 10th pick the following year to make him the first NBA player to ever come out of Lehigh University. The team made Anfernee Simons the first American-born player since 2005 to be drafted out of high school when they selected him in 2018. They chose a similar formula with Shaedon Sharpe when they selected him with pick 7 in 2022 after he had sat out his season at Kentucky. All of this is to say that the Trail Blazers have no problem taking a chance at players who have traversed unusual career backgrounds; the success speaks for itself when all four players have enjoyed considerable time as starters.

Couple a lesson from misfortune with a tendency for experimentation and the Trail Blazers defy expectations to select Yang with the 16th overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft. The 7’1″ center turned 20 the day after the draft and had completed two seasons with the Qingdao Eagles of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). ESPN had him going at pick 36 in their mock draft. None of the seven experts at CBS Sports had him in their first round mocks. The Ringer had him ranked at 40 on their big board. To see him go so early was considered the shock selection of the draft. Yang became the sixth Chinese player and the third highest to be selected in an NBA draft; only Yao Ming with pick 1 in 2002 and Yi Jianlian with pick 6 in 2007 went higher. He was also the first player from the CBA to be selected since Emmanuel Mudiay went on a Chinese exodus to commence his professional career before he was picked at 7 in the 2015 draft. Not a great deal of talent has ever successfully transitioned to the NBA from the CBA which is notorious for its statistical inflations of averages due to a quick pace and lower level of local talent.

If any player can do that however, it has to be Yang. He averaged 16.6 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists during the 2024–25 season – aged 19. The Jokić comparison is too simple to suggest. Yang’s season-high assist count was 7 which means that he is averaging a relatively consistent amount per game as opposed to sporadic outliers. He is frequently able to make the right decision when passing the ball and shows maturity beyond his playing years. Jokić averaged 2.4 assists per game during his first season with the Nuggets in 2015–16. He raised it to 4.9 the following season and then first led the team in assists with 6.1 in 2017–18. Jokić has been the Nuggets’ primary passer ever since to generational levels of success. Yang has all of the ability to become the next elite passing big man and he will be afforded the opportunity to develop; the Trail Blazers already have four centers on their roster including last year’s lottery pick in Donovan Clingan and 2018 first overall pick Deandre Ayton.

A 7’1″ playmaking center. The archetype has never exactly looked like this. Jokić is only there to show something similar can happen. A glimmer of comparison emerges from an unexpected place and maybe it looks like something unprecedented can happen twice. The Trail Blazers were never going to be the ones wondering if they should have been the team to try.