2025 NBA Draft: Could the Nets Target Hansen Yang or Rocco Zikarsky?

"If you just play through pick-and-rolls all the time, you're too predictable,” Nets head coach Jordi Fernández said. “Playing through your bigs that have the ability to dribble hand-off [...] is going to help our ball movement, pace in the half-court."

If that’s what the Brooklyn bench boss is looking for, why not take a flier on Chinese center Hansen Yang? The 19-year-old is currently playing for Qingdao in China’s top league, but has played NBA competition before. Yang played with a Chinese national team contingent in the Summer League, and he previously battled a stacked United States youth team featuring the likes of Utah Jazz wing Cody Williams or draft prospects Dylan Harper, Tre Johnson and Asa Newell.

Yang’s biggest limitation is his athleticism. The 7-foot-1 big is slow and he cannot jump high. However, he is also an amazing positional passer with an innate feel for the game. Yang is also extremely productive when he gets touches in the post, around the elbows, or above the break. He embodies what Fernández desires from his bigs on offense.

Nets owner Joe Tsai previously said to NetsDaily: "I’ve been on record saying if there’s good Chinese players, I would do anything to help them come -- if they want to come play in the NBA, I would do anything to help them do that.”

Nets brass will be familiar with Rocco Zikarsky, seeing as how they traveled down under to evaluate him and other NBL-based prospects last September. That trip was recently featured in the ‘SCOUT’ nine-part original documentary series being released by the Nets. 

Zikarsky chose not to play in the combine's scrimmages after measuring incredibly well at a massive 7-foot-3 with a 9-foot-6½ standing reach. The mystery of the unknown plays a big factor in the Australian center’s draft stock, since his high-level experience is still fairly limited. Accentuating Zikarsky’s strengths while inviting curiosity about his upside is likely his avenue to being drafted as high as possible.

The 18-year-old played for the Sydney Kings over the last two seasons as part of the NBL’s NextStars developmental program. He averaged 4.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 0.6 blocks in 11.8 minutes per league game this season. Zikarsky’s counting stats are not very impressive, but his total package is appealing. 

In addition to his size and pro experience — not production — Zikarsky is well-known via the NBA Global Academy system, has plenty of FIBA tape, one really good tournament (the Albert Schweitzer Cup) under his belt, a swimmer's body, an Olympic medalist dad and a champion ironwoman. Plus, he doesn’t turn 19 until after the draft. The Nets can talk themselves into taking a swing on Zikarsky with the No. 36 pick if he is still available.