Former Gonzaga guard Khalif Battle signs first professional contract

Another one of Gonzaga's four seniors from last year has signed his first professional contract.

Khalif Battle inked a deal with Dolomiti Energia Trento, an Italian club based in Trent that competes in the LBA and EuroCup.

"I like Khalif's capability and his desire to live basketball in an intense way," Trento coach Massimo Chancellieri said in a translated statement Thursday morning. "[He] gives us versatility and speed."

Battle joins Ryan Nembhard (Dallas Mavericks) and Ben Gregg (Strasbourg) in signing his first professional contract after playing for Gonzaga in the 2024-25 season. Only Nolan Hickman remains unsigned as of this writing.

Battle started his college career way back in 2019-20 with Butler, appearing in 24 games off the bench before opting to hit the transfer portal and landing at Temple in the American. Battle spent three seasons at Temple but only appeared in 11 games in 2020-21 and seven games in 2021-22 due to injury. He blossomed into a star his third year with the Owls, however, averaging 17.9 points in 32.2 minutes per game while leading the conference with an 89.8% mark from the free throw line.

Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Khalif Battle. | Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

That led Battle to join a transfer-heavy group at Arkansas under coach Eric Musselman. While the Hogs were completely dysfunctional all season long, Battle finished the season on an absolute heater: averaging 29.6 points in his final seven games, including a 42-point outburst against Missouri and 34 points at Kentucky, where he shot a whopping 17-18 from the free throw line.

Battle then hit the portal again and landed at Gonzaga, bringing his experience and rim pressure to Spokane to play alongside Nembhard and Hickman in the backcourt.

Battle had his ups and downs with the Zags, at times taking games over completely and willing the Bulldogs to victory — but also at times disappearing on the floor or getting into early foul trouble and taking himself out of the equation.

All told, he finished his lone season with Gonzaga averaging 13.6 points, shooting 34.7% from 3 and a conference-leading 93.2% from the charity stripe. He agonizingly had the ball in his hands with a chance to lift the Zags over No. 1 seed Houston in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, but was unable to get a shot off in the final moments of his college career — prompting a nice moment where he was consoled by Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson.

Battle now joins a Trento team that won the Italian Cup last year and features a handful of other former college stars, including Duke guard DJ Steward, Michigan guard DeVante' Jones, and former Washington State and Colorado forward Andrej Jakimovski.

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