Duop Reath Details Yang Hansen's Early Days With Qingdao Eagles

📍LAS VEGAS — To most of the world, Yang Hansen was an unknown when the Trail Blazers took him with the 16th overall pick in last month's draft.

For Duop Reath, it was a full-circle moment to become his teammate for a second time.

Before Reath finally made it to the NBA in 2023 at age 27, he played professionally for five teams in four different countries. One of those was a season in the Chinese Basketball Association with the Qingdao Eagles, while a 16-year-old Yang was training in their developmental system.

"He was definitely one of the better players on the junior team," Reath told me on Saturday, ahead of Yang's second Summer League game with the Blazers. "He spent a lot of time with us."

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As the Blazers' front office and scouting staff began gathering intel on Yang in 2023, they were fortunate enough to have Reath in their building, as someone who had already seen him up close and practiced against him.