Trio of Zags Sign New Contracts Overseas

Congratulations are in order for Joel Ayayi, Kyle Wiltjer, and Ben Gregg.

Joel Ayayi – Paris (France)

The Frenchman is returning to the city where Gonzaga first found him. The 6-5 guard used to play with INSEP in Paris, the same sports boarding high school that produced Ronny Turiaf.

The Paris basketball club competes in the LNB Elite and the EuroLeague. Ayayi is making the right steps to potentially join the French national team in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Last season with JL Bourg of the LNB Pro A, Ayayi averaged 9.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.3 steals per game.

Kyle Wiltjer – Reyer Venezia (Italy)

The sharpshooter is heading into his third straight season with the Italian club, which is pretty unheard of for international players. Most stay with a club for just one or two seasons before moving up or down to a different league or to another country completely.

Over the course of his time with Reyer Venezia, Wiltjer has put together 11.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game in his two campaigns. He can still launch it from deep, hitting 37.9 percent on his three-pointers, plus 44.0 percent from the field and 81.6 percent from the free throw line.

Ben Gregg – SIG Strasbourg (France)

This is Mr. Zag’s first professional basketball contract (one-year deal), and not many more beautiful countries to get one’s career started. He will be off to France at the conclusion of his time in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas with the Boston Celtics. BYU Cougars’ Fousseyni Traore and Santa Clara Broncos’ Adama Alpha Bal, from Gregg’s time in the West Coast Conference, will be a couple of his new teammates with SIG Strasbourg.

The 6-10, 230-pound forward averaged 6.2 points and 3.8 rebounds throughout his five seasons, 141 games played in Spokane. In his final campaign with Gonzaga, Gregg contributed a career-high 9.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 29 starts during the 2024-5 campaign. In 35 total games played, he shot 57.1 percent from the floor (also a career-high).

Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on Twitter @a_cravalho

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