Ex-Gophers star Jamison Battle lands three-year contract with Raptors

Former Gophers star Jamison Battle has some newfound job security in the NBA. The Toronto Raptors are converting his two-way contract into a standard three-year deal, according to ESPN's Shams Charania. He fills a roster spot that was created by the Raptors' moves prior to the trade deadline this week.

Battle, a Minnesota native who went to DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis, played for the Gophers for two seasons from 2021-23. His 17.5 points per game in 2021-22 ranked seventh in the Big Ten. Sandwiched around his Gophers tenure, he began his college career at George Washington and finished it at Ohio State last season.

After going undrafted last year, Battle impressed for Toronto in the Summer League and ultimately earned a training camp invite and a two-way contract. He's played in 15 games for the Raptors 905 in the G League and 35 games in the NBA, averaging 5.4 points in 12.6 minutes a night for Toronto.

Battle has mostly fallen out of the rotation lately, but he was a regular for the Raptors off the bench earlier this season and should get more opportunities moving forward. The 23-year-old scored a career-high 24 points in a win over the Pelicans in late November.

At 16-35, the rebuilding Raptors are in 13th in the Eastern Conference. They parted ways with Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk, and Davion Mitchell in a series of trades last week, adding only Brandon Ingram to their roster. That created a spot for Battle to sign a standard NBA deal.

Stay up to date on all things Gophers by bookmarking Minnesota Gophers On SI, subscribing to our YouTube channel, and signing up to receive our free Gophers newsletter.