PORTLAND, Ore. (June 29, 2023) – The Portland Trail Blazers have extended qualifying offers to center Ibou Badji (E-boo BAH-gee) and forward John Butler Jr., making both players restricted free agents, General Manager Joe Cronin announced today. Per team policy, terms of the deals are not disclosed.
By extending qualifying offers to Badji and Butler, Portland obtains the Right of First Refusal on any offer sheet they may sign with another team.
Badji originally signed a two-way contract with the Trail Blazers on November 18, 2022. Butler appeared in 19 games (1 start) during his rookie campaign for Portland and averaged 2.4 points (32.1% FG, 75.0% FT), 0.9 rebounds and 11.6 minutes per game as a two-way player.