Chris Youngblood Reacts to Inking Two-Way Deal With OKC Thunder

Oklahoma City inked Chris Youngblood to a two-way pact over the weekend to solidify their roster. This is a massive bench mark in the sharpshooter's story. A guard who grinded through the college ranks to get to Alabama before going undrafted. After an impressive summer league, training camp and preseason with the Thunder, the organization rewarded him with this deal.

“Extremely filled with gratitude. I’m blessed. Just take advantage of the opportunity. It's good for the soul. I can probably sleep a little better now. Haven’t had a good night’s sleep since college basketball," Youngblood said at Thunder practice Sunday. “[My dad] almost started crying [Friday after the Nuggets game upon finding out of the contract] and I was like, ‘Not yet bro. Wait until we get to the car.’”

The rookie remains curious attempting to be sponge, soaking up any knowledge he can to get a leg up in his development.

“They say there’s no such thing as asking too many questions but I definitely ask too many questions," Youngblood explained before detailing he leans on Superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Alex Caruso. “I don’t have a problem being vulnerable to them.”

Youngblood complimented this group's humility after winning a championship this past season which sparked this scribe to ask about his view of the playoff run a year ago and how much he was able to watch.

“Every bit. It was great basketball being played. If you’re a basketball player, you gotta watch this type of basketball," Youngblood said before detailing that he would envision how he fits on playoff teams while awaiting the offense and now he is in Oklahoma City.

Youngblood has already gotten the chance to play in front of the home crowd in the preseason, which he gave a glowing review of at practice.

“It’s amazing. They say it’s the loudest in the NBA. It’s pretty impressive. The energy goes down (to the court). Everybody is always engaged.”

The Thunder rookie mentioned his first interaction with the team was at the Portsmouth invitational this past spring. Head coach Mark Daigneault gave the front office a lot of credit for getting the Alabama product into this organization.

“I give Sam and that group a lot of credit. He’s a guy that was identified in the draft process — along with some of the other E10s we had — that were priority guys in the draft process and after the draft," Daigneault said.

Oklahoma City begins their regular season on Tuesday with ring night on Oct. 21 against the Houston Rockets.