Professional Career
After graduating from Indiana University in 1977, he was the number one draft pick of the 1977 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. Two minutes into his very first game as a professional, however, Los Angeles Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar punched Benson in retaliation for an overly aggressive elbow, causing his jaw to be broken. Abdul-Jabbar broke his hand in the incident and was out for two months; otherwise, he could have potentially been suspended by the NBA.
Benson never quite lived up to the potential of a number one NBA draft pick. Twice in his career, he was traded for a player that helped his former team get "over the hump" and contend for an NBA title. In 1980, the Bucks traded him to the Detroit Pistons for Bob Lanier, who would help the Bucks to consecutive conference finals appearances in 1983 and 1984. In 1986, the Pistons traded him along with Kelly Tripucka for Adrian Dantley, who would help lead the Pistons to the Eastern Conference finals in 1987 and the NBA Finals in 1988.
In his 1990 autobiography Drive: The Story of My Life, Larry Bird describes how Kent Benson taught him to be nice to freshmen. In 1974, Bird entered Indiana University on a basketball scholarship when Benson was a sophomore at Indiana. Kent Benson was one of the players at Indiana who consistently ribbed on Bird; so much so that in conjunction with other reasons, Bird left Indiana University before the basketball season ever began and never returned. In the book, Bird said he would try extra hard to defeat an NBA team if Kent Benson was playing.
Benson spent 11 seasons in the NBA with Milwaukee, Detroit, Utah and Cleveland. He averaged 9.1 points per game in 680 regular season games. He wore jersey #54 for his entire career.
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