The Portland Trail Blazers claimed Nikoloz Tskitishvili off waivers today.

Tskitishvili, 23, was selected in the first round (fifth pick overall) by the Denver Nuggets in the 2002 NBA Draft. The seven-foot from the Republic of Georgia has spent parts of four seasons with Denver, Golden State, Minnesota and Phoenix.

Tskitishvili has NBA career averages of 2.9 ppg, 1.8 rpg and 0.7 apg in 172 games.