The NBA fined the Portland Trail Blazers $100,000 and suspended two assistant general managers for two weeks without pay after finding they had illegally contacted Yang Hansen in December 2023, when the Chinese player was not yet draft-eligible.
The league said Mike Schmitz and Sergi Oliva had improper contact with Yang before the 2025 NBA Draft, when Portland selected him 16th overall. He became the highest-drafted player from China since 2007, but the punishment shows the league is still policing how teams pursue international prospects before they can enter the draft.
The case lands in the middle of the NBA’s global recruiting push, where front offices scout overseas talent more aggressively than ever and the lines around pre-draft contact can be easy to cross. Portland’s violation involved a player the team clearly valued enough to talk to early, but the league’s penalty makes clear that interest does not excuse breaking draft rules.
That is the friction at the heart of the matter: the NBA wants the reach that comes with chasing international talent, yet it is also trying to protect the integrity of a draft process that depends on everyone playing by the same rules. For Yang, the contact happened long before his name was called in 2025. For Portland, the cost arrived later, in fines and suspensions that underscore how seriously the league is treating this kind of breach.
