The 2025 NBA Draft had some big stars, such as Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper, but little did we know that an international superstar would be the 'talk of the town'.

Yang Hansen, the seven-foot-one centre from China, has been attracting a lot of attention since being drafted at Pick 16 by the Portland Trailblazers.

The rise of Hansen has been quite intriguing thus far. At first, it was a surprise to many that Portland drafted him at Pick 16. When picked, he had to come down from the crowd stands due to not being invited to join the top prospects, as he was projected to go mid-late second round.

This caused quite the outrage among fans and media members of the NBA world, which resulted in Portland gaining a lot of backlash for picking Hansen so high.

The narrative flipped on the pick quite quickly, especially once his first summer league game was complete. In his first game, Hansen showed his all-around skills for a big man, as he put up 10 points, four rebounds, five assists and three blocks in just 23 minutes.

After this game, everybody fell in love with the Chinese superstar. Hansen started to become really popular among NBA fans, even drawing comparisons to three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. This then gave him his new nickname 'Chinese Jokic'.

The 19-year-old has already become the most popular player in the draft, as one of his games recorded 5.2 million views due to his Chinese following. We have also seen people taking over Las Vegas with Chinese flags and Yang Hansen guernseys in support of him.

Hansen finished the summer league averaging 11 points, five rebounds, five assists and two blocks per game. He showcased to all of us what Portland saw in him from the beginning.

With his high skill on the offensive end and high upside on the defensive end, while being over seven feet tall. It makes you think why he was not a top prospect to begin with, and why players with his skill and Jokic's aren't regarded highly going into an NBA draft.

Portland may have struck gold with this pick, as he has now proven to be one of the most intriguing prospects we have ever seen in our time.

The young Chinese star is a skilled all-around big man who has a long career ahead of him and is going to be a fan favourite for a long time. The question now is, will he live up to the nickname 'Chinese Jokic'?