A few months ago, Yang Hansen made headlines after he confessed his love for Nikola Jokic during the Summer League. The 16th select rookie is a die-hard fan of Jokic and hasn’t shied away from confessing his love for the three-time MVP. Last time, he told reporters that he wanted pictures and autographs from the Denver Nuggets star; his demand has leveled up now.

Hansen was in Los Angeles, playing for the G-League team at the Castrol Rising Stars game. After Team Austin lost to Team Melo in the first semifinal, his team faced an early exit from the tournament. After the game, a reporter asked Hansen about potentially meeting his childhood idol for the first time during the All-Star Weekend. He had an unexpected answer.

“I can’t wait to kiss him,” Hansen’s translator first said, “I can’t wait to chat with him,” but the Portland Trail Blazers rookie immediately checked him and told him to use his exact words.

Hansen, a first-round pick from the 2025 NBA draft, made an early impression at Summer League. Since then, he has been nicknamed “Chinese Jokic” because of his playing style.

On Friday, when Hansen had the opportunity, he made the most of it. He had one of the best games of the Rising Star event, leading Team Austin with 10 points. He made 4 of 5 shots from the field, including 1 of 2 from the field. At one point in the game, he even scored four straight points to give his team a 32-28 point lead.

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Hansen’s talent has not gone unnoticed by Jokic. Previously, when reporters asked him about Hansen, “He’s good. I’m happy that when he gets in his prime, I’m going to be out of the league, probably,” Jokic said with his signature humility. “We can have a picture or whatever he wants, but only if he plays bad against me,” Jokic added, smirking, about the rookie wanting his autograph and picture. “Let’s say that I destroy him, and I score a lot of points—then yes. If he does that to me, no.”

Yang might have a fan-like moment watching his favorite player dress for the All-Star Game. However, it seems like Kevin Durant has spiked up tension with his latest comment, putting fresh allegations against Jokic for having his hands in ruining the All-Star Game.

Kevin Durant circles Nikola Jokic in blame for ruining the All-Star Game

When the best players in the league go against each other, the tension is expected to be all-time high. The All-Star Game is one night in the season when the best players have a chance to rise to the top in the league, going against the top players in the league. However, in the last few seasons, the event has gained more controversy than worthy headlines.

After a loss to the LA Clippers at Toyota Center, a reporter asked Durant about the lack of competition at the All-Star Game. Durant fired back at the reporter for blaming old heads like himself and LeBron James.

“But these two dudes out there, Luka and Jokic, they don’t care about the game at all,” he said. “These dudes be lying on the floor, shooting from half-court, but you got to worry about the old heads playing hard.”

Durant is not entirely wrong in his assessment that stars like Jokic and Doncic also should shoulder blame for the lack of competition. However, history shows that defense had depleted in the All-Star Game before Doncic and Jokic, who made their first selections in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Let’s take a look at the scores from the years before them.

In 2014, the East vs West score went to 163-155. Two years later, in 2016, it went to 196-173, a clear sign of no defense. The first year of Team LeBron vs Team Stephen in 2018 saw a bit of competition. However, the competition has been gone since then. In 2024, the score went to 211-186 in the East vs West game. The history indicates that the competition was gone long before Jokic and Doncic arrived.

Maybe veteran superstars shouldn’t shoulder all the responsibility, but they should definitely shoulder a big part of it.