How Nikola Jokic Stole Hansen Yang’s Heart From Shaquille O’Neal and Yao Ming

The latest man to join the NBA big man alliance hails from China, 20-year-old Hansen Yang, who, as it turns out, idolized the expected role models growing up. That was until a certain Serbian in Nikola Jokic, caught his attention and changed the way he approached the game.

Yang, selected No. 16 overall by the Portland Trail Blazers, has already been compared to Jokic. But the three-time MVP wasn’t the first player he ever looked up to. It was Shaquille O’Neal and Yao Ming.

Shaq and Ming’s names are hardly surprising. Ming is a Chinese national hero and the man who brought tens of millions of eyeballs from the Asian country into the NBA. Shaq? The most dominant player, perhaps, in NBA history. So what changed for Hansen?

Yang took to The Players’ Tribune to address his new fans in the States and spoke about his early basketball days. There, he revealed how his coach asked him to keep an eye out for Jokic after Yang told him about his love for Shaq and Ming.

“From there, I studied Jokic. I learned everything I could from watching how he played as a big man who passed and saw the floor like a guard,” Yang said. The Zibo-born baller further stated that since then, he’s emulated Jokic’s style of play, which will be something for fans to look out for as he takes to the court in a few weeks.

“I modeled my game after his in every way I could,” Yang said.

Yang is 7’1″, slightly taller than Jokic, and comes to the NBA with a reputation as a menace in the paint and an excellent passer. One area scouts believe he could improve is his shooting range, and that’s something he could truly learn from Jokic, who, for someone of his size, can shoot from just about anywhere on the court.

One thing is certain. Yang will keep learning from Jokic. He’s already excited to be in the same league as him, and even acknowledged that he received the best gift he’d ever gotten when his manager got him a signed Jokic jersey recently.

How the Jokic name stuck with Yang

Days after Yang’s name was called out on stage in New York and he became China’s latest NBA superstar, he admitted to having a rather special nickname: “Baby Jokic”.

It wasn’t because Yang’s gameplay was similar to the Serbian’s. It was because, as children, they were both fat. Speaking to the Washington Post, “I was a little bit of a fat boy…My father told me to try some sports, figure out what I want to do, and lose some weight. My father told me: ‘Don’t become fat.’”

Yang Hansen on how he got into basketball as a kid

(via @washingtonpost, @BenGolliver) pic.twitter.com/OILJbumKXM

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) July 21, 2025

Yang, of course, took his father’s advice and worked hard to get lean. He looks fit today, and his debut with the Trail Blazers is highly anticipated. There are aspects of his game that he can improve on, but the potential is there for him to become a solid center in the league for years to come.