Four-year NBA veteran Caleb Houstan is signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Trail Blazers, according to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian (Twitter link), who says the plan is for the forward to eventually join the Rip City Remix, Portland’s G League affiliate.

The 32nd overall pick in the 2022 draft, Houstan spent three years with Orlando and one with Atlanta, appearing in 186 regular season games for the two Southeast teams. He shot the ball well from beyond the arc (37.8%) but provided limited overall production, including 3.9 points and 1.4 rebounds in 13.4 minutes per contest.

Houstan was in camp this month with the Pelicans on a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 deal vying for a spot on the regular season roster, but he was waived by New Orleans earlier this week. As we noted at the time, his deal with the Pels didn’t feature Exhibit 10 language, so it didn’t appear that the organization planned on having him join its G League affiliate, the Laketown Squadron. Instead, Houstan is on track to play for Portland’s NBAGL team this fall.

Since Houstan has four years of NBA service under his belt, he’s no longer eligible for a two-way contract, but his Exhibit 10 deal will make him eligible for a bonus worth up to $91K on top of his G League salary as long as he spends at least 60 days with the Remix.

If Houstan impresses with Rip City, it’s possible he could emerge as a call-up candidate for the Blazers, who don’t have a ton of reliable forward depth behind starters Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara.

No corresponding roster move is necessary for the Blazers, as the club has three open spots on its 21-man squad.