The Oklahoma City Thunder has signed former Alabama guard Chris Youngblood to a two-way contract, the NBA team announced on Saturday.
Each NBA team can have three players on two-way contracts. A two-way player does not count on the 15-player standard roster but can play up to 50 games with the NBA team while being shuttled to and from the team’s NBA Gatorade League affiliate without being subjected to waivers.
The Thunder’s NBA G League affiliate is the Oklahoma City Blue.
Two-way players receive one salary while moving between the leagues. Usually, two-way contracts are for half of the minimum NBA salary. Half of the rookie minimum for the 2025-26 season is $420,000.
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 this month, Youngblood averaged 14.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steals for the Thunder. Youngblood made 44.4 percent of his 3-point shots in the preseason.
The winner of the 2024-25 NBA championship, Oklahoma City tips off its 2025-26 season against the Houston Rockets at 6:30 p.m. CDT Tuesday at Paycor City in Oklahoma City.
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