Former Alabama guard Chris Youngblood has signed a two-way contract with the Portland Trail Blazers, the NBA team announced.
A two-way contract allows a player to move between an NBA team and its NBA Gatorade League affiliate without needing to pass through waivers while earning the same pay in both leagues. Each team can carry three two-way players who may appear on the active roster of the NBA team for as many as 50 games.
Youngblood started the season on a two-way contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder. But when he reached his two-way limit of 50 games, Oklahoma City released Youngblood on Feb. 6.
After his release, Youngblood joined the Thunder’s NBA G League team, the Oklahoma City Blue.
In 32 games with the Thunder, Youngblood collected 65 points, 28 rebounds, 11 assists, four steals and three blocked shots in 174 minutes of court time.
In 17 games with the Blue, Youngblood averaged 20.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.2 steals.
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Youngblood played one season at Alabama after three seasons at Kennesaw State and one at South Florida. After winning the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year Award for the 2023-24 season, Youngblood averaged 10.3 points and 2.3 rebounds in 28 games for the Crimson Tide last season, when Alabama advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.
Passed over in the 2025 NBA Draft, Youngblood played for Oklahoma City in the NBA 2K26 Summer League in Las Vegas in July. He averaged 12.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.4 steals in five games in Las Vegas after he had averaged 8.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.3 steals in three Salt Lake City Summer League games.
In four preseason games, Youngblood averaged 14.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steals for the Thunder, prompting Oklahoma City to sign him to a two-way contract.