LAS VEGAS — When the Warriors opened summer league play on Friday night, fans from the world’s most populous country closely followed along.

The Golden State vs. Portland matchup at Thomas & Mack Center featured the first look at Chinese big man Hansen Yang, the Trail Blazers’ rookie first-rounder with deft touch and passing vision.

The Warriors brought Yang in for a predraft workout, back when he was expected to be a second-round selection rather than where he wound up picked — a borderline lottery pick at 16th overall.

During the Warriors’ shootaround Friday at the Las Vegas Basketball Center, located 15 miles north of the Vegas Strip, point guard Taran Armstrong made it clear the team knew what a challenge defending the 7-foot-1 center would be.

“With someone like that in that kind of scheme, if he gets the ball down low, it’s gonna be about five guys defending him,” Armstrong said. “We’ve watched a little bit of film on him, and so we’ve got a plan in place.”

Players in spotlight

Yang was scheduled to be defended by Warriors center Marques Bolden. The 27-year-old veteran out of Duke missed the previous season with an Achilles injury sustained during last summer league. He recently grabbed 10 rebounds in two games at the California Classic.

A couple of former SEC guards were hoping to see action in the Warriors’ first game since wrapping up the California Classic on Tuesday.

Recent Vanderbilt graduate Chris Mañon wowed as an active defensive presence and athletic finisher in his first summer league game, but was quiet over the final two games.

“I try to impact the game whatever way I can,” Mañon told the Bay Area News Group recently. “Most nights I think I’m capable of guarding the other team’s best player and being disruptive at all times. Whenever I can get deflections or grab a loose ball, or dive on the floor, get a loose ball, I try to do it.”

Alabama’s Jaden Shackelford has been a high-scoring guard in the G-League since departing Tuscaloosa in 2022. He averaged 17.5 points for the Valley Suns in 34 games, and made 4 of 11 3-pointers in two games during the California Classic.

College basketball fans will likely recognize Trail Blazers guard Caleb Love, who Portland signed after a stellar five-year career split between North Carolina and Arizona.

Love was an All-American after averaging 17.2 points and 3.4 assists per game for the Wildcats in his last collegiate season.

10-year Anniversary of Looney’s debut

This summer league marks the 10-year anniversary of the 2015 team, which starred a rookie Kevon Looney, who recently departed for New Orleans as a free agent.

Looney averaged 9.3 points and 7.2 rebounds in six games. Fellow multitime champion James Michael McAdoo led the team with 16.4 points per game.