Corey Dwight Benjamin (born February 24, 1978) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who played in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

from 1998 to 2003. He graduated from

Fontana High School Fontana High School (FOHI) is a secondary public school in Fontana, California in the Fontana Unified School District. Fontana High serves grades 9 through 12. History A product of the Southern California post war boom, Fontana High (referred t ...

Fontana, California Fontana is a city in San Bernardino County, California. Founded by Azariel Blanchard Miller in 1913, it remained essentially rural until World War II, when entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser built a large steel mill in the area. It is now a regional h ...

, then played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

, and was selected by the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

in the first round (28th overall) of the

1998 NBA draft The 1998 NBA draft took place on June 24, 1998, at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This draft helped turn around four struggling franchises: the Dallas Mavericks, the Sacramento Kings, the Boston Celtics, and the Tor ...

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 The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Sou ...

. Between his stints with Chicago and Atlanta, he played for Sutor Montegranaro in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, and the

Southern California Surf Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

in the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

. He also suited up for the

North Charleston Lowgators North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' i ...

in the NBDL (now known as the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

). Benjamin is also known for an incident where he mentioned to teammate Randy Brown that he could beat

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

in 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.

International career

Benjamin spent the final five years of his career playing abroad, first heading to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Ligue Nationale de Basketball The Ligue nationale de basket (LNB; English: National Basketball League) is the governing body of men's professional club basketball in France. The LNB organises the first-tier Pro A and the second-tier Pro B. Additionally, the federation annu ...

with Chalonnais for the 2003–04 season, followed by a stint in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

for the

Xinjiang Flying Tigers The Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers () is a professional basketball team based in Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China. The team play its home games at the Hongshan Arena, which has a capacity for 3,800 spectators. The club joined the Chinese Basketball ...

of the

Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier professional men's basketball league in China. The league is commonly known by fans as the CBA, and this acronym is even used in Chinese on a regular basis ...

in 2004–05. Heading to

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

for the 2005–06 campaign, Benjamin next joined the Guaros de Lara in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Liga Profesional de Baloncesto The Superliga Profesional de Baloncesto, commonly known as the SPB, is the Venezuelan first division national professional basketball league. Founded in 1974 as the Liga Especial de Baloncesto, it adopted the name Liga Profesional de Baloncesto i ...

, followed by a spell in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

Baloncesto Superior Nacional The Baloncesto Superior Nacional, abbreviated as BSN, is the first-tier-level professional men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1929 and is organized by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation. T ...

with the Conquistadores de Guaynabo. Benjamin then returned to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

to play for Benfica in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

during the 2006–07 season. He wrapped up his overseas career with a second stint in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

the following winter, going to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

to compete in the

Korean Basketball League The Korean Basketball League (KBL; ) is a professional men's basketball league in South Korea which was established in 1997. The league consists of ten teams and each team plays a total of 54 games (27 home and 27 away) in the regular season. H ...

with the Daegu Orions.

Career statistics

NBA

, - , align="left" , 1998–99 , align="left" ,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, 31 , , 1 , , 10.3 , , .376 , , .214 , , .675 , , 1.3 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 3.8 , - , align="left" , 1999–00 , align="left" ,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, 48 , , 10 , , 18.0 , , .414 , , .348 , , .598 , , 1.8 , , 1.1 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 7.7 , - , align="left" , 2000–01 , align="left" ,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, 65 , , 5 , , 13.2 , , .381 , , .259 , , .675 , , 1.5 , , 1.1 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 4.7 , - , align="left" , 2002–03 , align="left" ,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, 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 Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

, 23 , , 17 , , 26.1 , , .432 , , .315 , , .653 , , 4.0 , , 1.3 , , 1.1 , , 0.5 , , 14.9 , - , align="left" , 1997–98 , align="left" ,

, 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 The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for c ...

, Benjamin played on the same team as his older brother, Sonny. In 2000 Benjamin was arrested and charged with one count of domestic battery. He was arrested again in 2016. In 2021, Benjamin apologised after a video of his daughter punching another player 1/3 her size during a basketball game went viral.

References

External links

NBA.com bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin, Corey 1978 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in China American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Portugal American expatriate basketball people in South Korea American expatriate basketball people in Venezuela Atlanta Hawks players Basketball players from Compton, California Charleston Lowgators players Chicago Bulls draft picks Chicago Bulls players Élan Chalon players Goyang Day One Jumpers players McDonald's High School All-Americans Oregon State Beavers men's basketball players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Shooting guards S.L. Benfica basketball players Xinjiang Flying Tigers players American men's basketball players Mets de Guaynabo basketball players Fontana High School alumni