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

Battle was previously on a two-way contract, so this gives him more stability in the NBA.
Will Ragatz|
Nov 27, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Toronto Raptors forward Jamison Battle (77) looks on against the New Orleans Pelicans during the second half at Smoothie King Center.
Nov 27, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Toronto Raptors forward Jamison Battle (77) looks on against the New Orleans Pelicans during the second half at Smoothie King Center. | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

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Minnesota Golden Gophers

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.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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