A stellar basketball career will last at least one more year.

Tim Hill, senior point guard on the Harvard men's basketball team, will sign a one-year contract this week to play professionally with a Rotterdam club in the Netherlands.

Hill, who over the course of the last four seasons has staked a strong claim to the title of best point guard in Harvard history, will take the biggest road trip of his life in August, heading overseas for training camp preceding a seven-month season.

"I'm really excited about it," Hill said. "How many guys can say that they've been a professional basketball player? It's been a lifetime goal of mine."

"It's a great opportunity, and I'm hoping Rotterdam will be a good place to play professionally," Hill added. "It's a chance to live outside the country for an extended period of time. The only other time I've left the U.S. was in high school, when my team played some games in France."

Hill said that although he has not formally signed yet, the contract is "a done deal," and has already been approved by the ownership of the Rotterdam club. He expects to sign some time this week.

The contract provides a $2,000-per-month salary, with built-in individual and team performance incentives. In addition to competing during the season, which runs from September to March, Hill will be responsible for participating in club-sponsored clinics three times weekly.

The team will also provide Hill with an apartment and car.

The process began in mid-April, when Hill signed a player-agent contract with the Netherlands-based Courtside firm, where he is represented by Jan Lugtenburg. In order to secure that contract, Hill had to compile a package including game footage of himself and a tally of statistics and career highlights.

Once inked by Courtside, Hill waited while the agency looked for potentially interested parties around the Netherlands.

"I'm glad it's been such a fluid process," Hill said. "Once I signed the player-agent contract, that gave the agency the ability to shop the market, and this team in Rotterdam popped up pretty quickly. The only effort I had to put out was marketing myself to the agency."

League rules allow three imported players to each club, and Rotterdam carries a Yugoslav and an alumnus of the Atlantic-10 conference's Dayton.

Hill follows former teammate Kyle Snowden '97, who has played professional ball in Luxembourg.

"I've been talking with Kyle over e-mail all year, and he's had nothing but positives to say about it," Hill said. "He felt it really rounded out his personality."

Hill had to choose between professional basketball and a waiting job in the New York office of Goldman, Sachs, where he has interned for the past two summers.