Portland Trail Blazers trade #11 pick, select Yang Hansen at #16

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Portland Trail Blazers’ pick is in, but with a twist.

At No. 11 overall in this year’s NBA Draft, that pick was traded by the Trail Blazers to the Memphis Grizzlies.

With the Grizzlies pick, the Blazers selected Cedric Coward with the 11th pick, who has plenty of local ties to the Pacific Northwest. Coward played his freshman year in Salem at Willamette University. He then transferred from playing Division III ball to play at Eastern Washington before heading to the Palouse to play at Washington State.

With the Blazers trading their sole pick in this year’s draft, they have received multiple picks from the Grizzlies including this year’s No. 16 overall pick along with a 2028 first-round pick via the Orlando Magic and a pair of second-round picks as well, according to ESPN insider Shams Charania.

And thus, Blazers fans had to wait for the Blazers to be back on the clock with the 16th overall selection.

So, after moving down five spots, Portland selected 19-year-old big man out of China, Yang Hansen at No. 16.

Hansen stands at 7’1″ and while playing for the Qingdao Eagles in the Chinese Basketball Association this past season, he averaged 16.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game. He was an All-CBA first-team selection.

This has already been a busy start to the NBA offseason for the Trail Blazers.

It was on Monday night when Charania reported that Portland was sending their longest-tenured player, sharp-shooter, Anfernee Simons to the Boston Celtics along with a pair of second-round picks as the Blazers get the decorated veteran Jrue Holiday in return.