The Trail Blazers have called up forward Justin Minaya from the G League to finish the season with the team, according to Steve Popper of Newsday (Twitter link).
The son of veteran baseball executive Omar Minaya, Justin Minaya went undrafted out of Providence in 2022 and spent most of his first professional season playing for the Mexico City Capitanes in the G League. In 27 NBAGL regular season appearances (35.1 MPG), he averaged 12.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 2.1 steals with a shooting line of .487/.339/.472.
The NBA’s transaction log confirms that the Blazers have officially signed Minaya to a 10-day contract. There are fewer than 10 days left in the regular season, but 10-day deals can still be signed if a team is granted a hardship provision due to an excessive number of injuries.
Portland has already added two extra players to its roster on 10-day contracts via the hardship provision, but qualified to sign a third. Damian Lillard, Jerami Grant, Anfernee Simons, Jusuf Nurkic, Justise Winslow, Keon Johnson, and Cam Reddish have all missed the last three or more games for the team due to injuries. A team can become eligible for a hardship signing when it has just four players who fit that bill, then can qualify for an extra replacement for each additional injured player.
Minaya’s hardship 10-day deal will expire when the regular season ends. He’ll immediately become a free agent at that time and Portland won’t hold any form of Bird rights on him this summer. The Blazers are now carrying 20 players, including two-ways.
Gonna guess that he misses that free throw
Yeah go say that to his face, coward. He’s shooting free throws in the NBA not in his boxer briefs elbow deep in a bag of corn chips and bean dip.
Give the man a break. He is literally achieving his dream and you feel the need to bash him. Well don’t throw stones in glass houses…I think you know why
Ya gotta miss your free throws.
47% from the free throw line?!?!
Brandon Williams you dumb dumbs
Maybe he should shoot like Rick Barry at the line. Try that granny shot
Brandon Williams averaged double figures for you last season and was young. Why not give him a second chance? Anyone