Two-Way Player Capsule: Justin Minaya

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Justin signed a contract with the Trail Blazers on Oct. 2 and his deal was converted to a two-way contract on Oct. 23. Due to his time with Mexico City last year, the Remix had to acquire Justin's G League rights from the Capitanes on Oct. 17 as part of a five-team trade.

He played in four games for the Trail Blazers during the 2022-23 season, scoring a career-high eight points on April 4 at Memphis, which was his first career game. In the contest, he shot 3-6 from the field while grabbing four rebounds. Two days later on April 6, Justin notched three blocks and a steal at San Antonio.

Justin appeared in 44 games (30 starts) for the Mexico City Capitanes last year before signing a 10-day contract with the Trail Blazers. During his time there, he averaged 11.0 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.2 blocks per game, and was the only player in the G League to average that stat line or better.

Justin finished tied for third in the G League in steals in 2022-23 with 57, and he was first in the league in steals among players listed at 6’7 or taller. Between the G League Showcase and the regular season last year, Justin had four or more steals in seven games, including two games with five (Nov. 26 at Lakeland and Jan. 20 vs. Santa Cruz).

Additionally, Justin finished 11th in the G League in blocks last year. Among the top 11 leaders in blocks during the 2022-23 G League season, he was the shortest at 6’7, with just two players (Michael Foster Jr. and Braxton Key) listed just as one inch taller. Justin recorded four or more blocks twice, including a season-high five on Jan. 22, 2023 vs. Santa Cruz where he scored 19 points on 8-11 shooting (3-for-6 from three) with eight rebounds and three steals.

Justin scored a season-high 25 points on 10-19 shooting on March 15 at Greensboro, shooting 3-6 from three while recording four rebounds, two assists and three steals. He poured in 24 points three days prior vs. Windy City, shooting 9-14 from the field to go along with four steals and two blocks.

He also had some hot shooting games from deep, going 5-7 on three pointers on Dec. 6 at Memphis while turning in two 4-5 performances from deep on Feb. 1 vs. South Bay and March 22 at Stockton.

Justin played one year of college basketball at Providence (2021-22) and four at South Carolina (2017-21). He named BIG EAST Player of the Week for Jan. 31, 2022 after playing all 40 minutes in three-straight wins vs. Butler, at Xavier and vs. Marquette. Justin averaged 9.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 0.7 steals and 2.0 blocks per game to earn the award while shooting 50% from the field and 54.5% from three … In the Jan. 30 game vs. Marquette, he tied his season-high of 14 points, going 3-7 from three and 5-6 at the free-throw line with six rebounds.

Justin played for the Dominican Republic at the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championship, averaging 6.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game during the tournament.

Justin is the son of long-time MLB executive Omar Minaya, who spent many years as a key figure in the Mets organization, including a stint as GM. Omar was also the GM of the Montreal Expos for three years. Omar was born in the Dominican Republic, and the family's name is pronounced Min-NIGH-UH.