Sawt Falasteen - Trail Blazers pick China's Yang in NBA draft first-round surprise

The 7ft 2in (2.18m) center, who made his Chinese Basketball Association debut in 2023 and was an All-Star in each of his first two seasons with the Qingdao Eagles, had been tipped as a second-round pick.

That was even after his stock had risen after a promising performance at the NBA draft combine, where some of his passes had earned comparisons to the Denver Nuggets' Serbian star Nikola Jokic -- a three-time NBA Most Valuable Player.

He had individual workouts with 11 teams, including the Trail Blazers who, after swapping the 11th and 16th draft selections with the Memphis Grizzlies, grabbed Yang on Wednesday.

"The Blazers had scouts scouting me in China the last couple years," Yang said.

"I also had a pre-workout with them last month. Everything went very well and I got along with all the front-office people.

"But at the end of the day, this is sort of beyond my wildest imagination."

Icon Yao Ming, who was the number one selection in 2002, and Yi Jianlian -- who was sixth overall in 2007 -- are the only other Chinese players chosen in the first round of the draft.

It made for a sensational birthday for Yang, who turned 20 on Thursday.

Not included among the likely first-round prospects and given a place in the near-stage waiting room, he clambered down from the stands dressed in a white suit to shake NBA commissioner Adam Silver's hand.

Yang said that after the 15th selection had been announced he noticed more cameras on him.

"I just thought something was off or thought something was about to happen. So that's when I found out," Yang said.

But it wasn't a coincidence that he was in the stands to see the league's 30 teams make their first-round selections. Despite the pundits' predictions, he was confident he could be among them.

"I was expecting to be selected at the end of the first round," he said. "So this is definitely a big surprise for me to be selected in the middle of the first round."

Y.Shaath--SF-PST