Yang Hansen records 12 points, nine rebounds

Williams is back after missing Saturday’s loss to the Spurs. His return strengthens Portland’s center rotation and leaves fewer minutes for Yang Hansen.

There’s no such thing as “garbage time"; those minutes are vital for non-rotation players looking to give their coaches a reason to call their name when the stakes are higher. While Yang’s showing against the Spurs is unlikely to make him a fixture in the Trail Blazers’ rotation, it was a step forward. The former first-round pick recorded his first double-double, establishing new career highs in points and rebounds. As good as it was to see him perform well, Yang should still be rostered only in dynasty leagues.

Williams was initially listed as doubtful, and now he has officially been downgraded. He’s dealing with soreness, and the team is considering this a precautionary move. Yang Hansen and Micah Potter should fill out the backup center minutes behind Donovan Clingan.

Time Lord will sit out Thursday for a maintenance day, and Yang Hansen will be available to backup Donovan Clingan. Williams III’s next chance to take the court will come on Saturday against the Jazz.

Potter is a depth center for Portland. If he’s unavailable, Yang Hansen will be the clear third center option behind Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams III, though the latter two will split most of the center minutes.

Because of the opposition and Robert Williams III getting the day off, Yang played 21 minutes on Monday. The 7-foot-1 center made the most of his height advantage on offense, shooting 75 percent from the field, but he recorded no defensive stats. Once the regular season begins, Yang is unlikely to get the minutes needed to affect fantasy basketball, especially if Williams and starting center Donovan Clingan remain healthy.

After struggling early, Hansen was able to get some things done offensively down the stretch to help the Trail Blazers knock off Denver. Coming off a season in which he saw little playing time, this summer league experience is a big one for the 7-foot-1 center. He recorded a complete stat line on Thursday, including four blocked shots, while shooting over 50 percent from the field. With Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams III in the fold, Hansen is not a player to rely on for fantasy value immediately. However, with the Time Lord’s injury history, there may be times when Hansen can work his way into the rotation.

Back in action after sitting out Sunday’s game against the Magic with an illness, Hansen had his best game of this year’s summer league. The second-year center missed just one shot from the field and did a good job of facilitating offense in the 111-84 victory. Hansen did not record any defensive stats, but the increased comfort on the offensive end was encouraging. The question now is whether the Trail Blazers feel that Hansen has shown them enough to merit being shut down for the rest of the summer. If anything, he’ll be best served by getting live reps against legitimate NBA bigs, which is unlikely to happen often in Portland’s remaining summer league games.

The 16th overall pick in the 2025 draft, Hansen recorded 12 points, nine rebounds and four assists in Friday’s loss to the Suns. With Donovan Clingan locked into the starting center role and Robert Williams III re-signed, Hansen will once again face long odds to earn consistent rotation minutes when the regular season begins. As for Sunday, his absence means more minutes will be available to Aliou Diarra, who was not selected in last month’s draft.

Williams is good to go after tweaking something in his lower back during Friday’s loss to the Mavericks. He’ll take on his usual backup center role, which means Yang Hansen may only see action if the game gets out of hand.