Corey Benjamin

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Corey Benjamin

| image =

| width =

| caption =

| position = Guard

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 6

| weight_lb = 200

| league =

| team =

| number = 25

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1978|02|24}}

| birth_place = Compton, California, U.S.

| high_school = Fontana (Fontana, California)

| college = Oregon State (1996–1998)

| draft_year = 1998

| draft_round = 1

| draft_pick = 28

| draft_team = Chicago Bulls

| career_start = 1998

| career_end = 2008

| years1 = {{nbay|1998|start}}–{{nbay|2000|end}}

| team1 = Chicago Bulls

| years2 = 2001

| team2 = Sutor Montegranaro

| years3 = 2002

| team3 = Liaoning Flying Leopards

| years4 = 2002

| team4 = Southern California Surf

| years5 = {{nbay|2002|end}}

| team5 = Atlanta Hawks

| years6 = 2002–2003

| team6 = North Charleston Lowgators

| years7 = 2003–2004

| team7 = Chalonnais

| years8 = 2004–2005

| team8 = Xinjiang Flying Tigers

| years9 = 2005–2006

| team9 = Guaros de Lara

| years10 = 2006

| team10 = Conquistadores de Guaynabo

| years11 = 2006–2007

| team11 = Benfica

| years12 = 2007–2008

| team12 = Daegu Orions

| stat1label = Points

| stat1value = 835 (5.5 ppg)

| stat2label = Rebounds

| stat2value = 259 (1.7 rpg)

| stat3label = Assists

| stat3value = 143 (0.9 apg)

| highlights =

Pac-10 All-Freshman Team (1997)
Second-team Parade All-American (1996)
McDonald's All-American (1996)
California Mr. Basketball (1996)

}}

Corey Dwight Benjamin{{cite web |title=Corey Dwight Benjamin, Born 02/24/1978 in California |url=https://californiabirthindex.org/birth/corey_dwight_benjamin_born_1978_13533779 |website=CaliforniaBirthIndex.org |access-date=28 October 2024}} (born February 24, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the NBA from 1998 to 2003. He graduated from Fontana High School{{cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/benjaco01.html|title=Corey Benjamin|publisher=Basketball Reference|accessdate=November 13, 2017}} in Fontana, California, then played college basketball for Oregon State University, and was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the first round (28th overall) of the 1998 NBA draft.

NBA career

Benjamin stayed with the Bulls for three seasons, and during the 2002–03 campaign, he signed a pair of 10-day contracts to play for the Atlanta Hawks. Between his stints with Chicago and Atlanta, he played for Sutor Montegranaro in Italy, and the Southern California Surf in the American Basketball Association. He also suited up for the North Charleston Lowgators in the NBDL (now known as the NBA G League).

Benjamin is also known for an incident where he mentioned to teammate Randy Brown that he could beat Michael Jordan in a one-on-one game. Jordan had just retired, but he showed up at a Bulls practice to completely embarrass Benjamin in an 11–3 rout.Bayless, Skip. [https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-11-28-9911280137-story.html "JORDAN BACK IN GYM TONING UP (NO, THAT'S NOT WHY),"] CHICAGO TRIBUNE (Nov. 28, 1999).[http://ballislife.com/michael-jordan-challenge-corey-benjamin/ Remembering When A Retired Michael Jordan Came By The Bulls Practice To Accept A Challenge From Corey Benjamin]

International career

Benjamin spent the final five years of his career playing abroad, first heading to France's Ligue Nationale de Basketball with Chalonnais for the 2003–04 season, followed by a stint in China for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association in 2004–05.

Heading to Latin America for the 2005–06 campaign, Benjamin next joined the Guaros de Lara in Venezuela's Liga Profesional de Baloncesto, followed by a spell in Puerto Rico's Baloncesto Superior Nacional with the Conquistadores de Guaynabo.

Benjamin then returned to Europe to play for Benfica in Portugal during the 2006–07 season.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070607034008/http://www.lcb.pt/ligauzo/?esc=jogador&id=563 L C B – Liga dos Clubes de Basquetebol]

[https://web.archive.org/web/20070702071103/http://www.slbenfica.pt/Info/Basquetebol/info_basqPlantel.asp Basquetebol 2006/2007] Retrieved November 13, 2017. He wrapped up his overseas career with a second stint in Asia the following winter, going to South Korea to compete in the Korean Basketball League with the Daegu Orions.

Career statistics

=NBA=

| align="left" | 1998–99

| align="left" | Chicago

| 31 || 1 || 10.3 || .376 || .214 || .675 || 1.3 || 0.3 || 0.4 || 0.3 || 3.8

| align="left" | 1999–00

| align="left" | Chicago

| 48 || 10 || 18.0 || .414 || .348 || .598 || 1.8 || 1.1 || 0.6 || 0.5 || 7.7

| align="left" | 2000–01

| align="left" | Chicago

| 65 || 5 || 13.2 || .381 || .259 || .675 || 1.5 || 1.1 || 0.4 || 0.2 || 4.7

| align="left" | 2002–03

| align="left" | Atlanta

| 9 || 0 || 16.9 || .302 || .154 || .750 || 3.4 || 1.1 || 0.1 || 0.2 || 4.4

|- class="sortbottom"

| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career

| 153 || 16 || 14.3 || .390 || .289 || .652 || 1.7 || 0.9 || 0.5 || 0.3 || 5.5

=College=

| align="left" | 1996-97

| align="left" | Oregon State

| 23 || 17 || 26.1 || .432 || .315 || .653 || 4.0 || 1.3 || 1.1 || 0.5 || 14.9

| align="left" | 1997–98

| align="left" | Oregon State

| 25 || 22 || 26.9 || .539 || .293 || .713 || 5.0 || 2.2 || 1.9 || 0.7 || 19.8

|- class="sortbottom"

| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career

| 48 || 39 || 26.5 || .491 || .305 || .688 || 4.5 || 1.8 || 1.5 || 0.6 || 17.5

Personal life

While a member of the Oregon State Beavers, Benjamin played on the same team as his older brother, Sonny.{{cite news|last=Baum|first=Bob|url=https://apnews.com/article/bfc22c8814dc7069ae30483d83545053|title=High school star Benjamin ready for homecoming|date=February 27, 1997|website=AP News|access-date=November 21, 2021}}

In 2000 Benjamin was arrested and charged with one count of domestic battery.{{cite web |title= BENJAMIN'S ARREST CLOUDS BULLS FUTURE|last1=Johnson |first1=K.C |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2000-10-19-0010190084-story.html |website=Chicago Tribune |date=October 19, 2000 |access-date=19 September 2022}} He was arrested again in 2016.{{cite web |title=Teenager Banned From Multiple Girls Basketball Tournaments Following Incidents Of On-Court Violence |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/teenager-banned-from-multiple-girls-basketball-tournaments-following-incidents-of-on-court-violence/ |website=CBS News |date=November 11, 2021 |access-date=19 September 2022}}

In 2021, Benjamin apologised after a video of his daughter punching another player during a basketball game went viral. {{cite web |title=Mother Charged For Urging Daughter To 'Hit' Basketball Opponent, Calif. DA Says |last1=Kaplan |first1=Anna |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/annakaplan/2021/12/09/mother-charged-for-urging-daughter-to-hit-basketball-opponent-calif-da-says/ |website=Forbes |access-date=19 September 2022}}