Jerrelle Benimon

Jerrelle Benimon (born August 1, 1991) is an American former professional basketball player. In college, he was the 2012–13 Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year as a redshirt junior after leading the Towson Tigers to the greatest single-season turnaround in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I history; the Tigers finished with a 1–31 record in 2011–12 before completing an 18–13 season the following year. Benimon also tied for the second-highest rebounding average (11.2) in Division I behind only Siena's O. D. Anosike's 11.4 per game average. Benimon repeated as the player of the year as a senior in 2013–14 and, coincidentally, finished second in the national rebounding average for a second consecutive season (11.2).

High school career Benimon attended Fauquier High School in Warrenton, Virginia. In his junior season in 2007–08 he averaged 19.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, 3.4 blocks and 3.5 assists per game. He saw limited action in both seasons and scored a total of 84 points in 61 game appearances.

Having to sit out the 2011–12 season due to NCAA by-laws, Benimon flew under the radar heading in the Colonial Athletic Association's 2012–13 season. He was not even selected to an All-CAA team during the conference's preseason media day.

Benimon's senior season in 2013–14 saw him lead the Tigers to a second-place finish in the CAA behind Delaware, finishing the year with a 13–3 conference record (25–11 overall). The 25 wins is a program record for their Division I era. Towson, seeded second in the 2014 CAA tournament, was upset in the semifinals by third-seeded William & Mary, ending their chance at an automatic NCAA tournament bid.

Professional career

2014–15 season After going undrafted in the 2014 NBA draft, Benimon joined the Miami Heat for Orlando Summer League and the Denver Nuggets for the Las Vegas Summer League. On September 30, 2014, he signed with the Nuggets, but was later waived by the team on October 22 before the start of the 2014–15 NBA season. On November 18, he was acquired by the Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League. On February 4, he was named to the Futures All-Star team for the 2015 NBA D-League All-Star Game.

On March 6, 2015, Benimon signed a 10-day contract with the Utah Jazz. Following the expiration of his contract on March 16, he was not offered a second 10-day contract by the Jazz, parting ways with the team after appearing in just two games and returned to the Stampede that same day. On April 22, he was named to the 2015 All-NBA D-League first team and the All-Rookie first team.

2015–16 season In July 2015, Benimon joined the Cleveland Cavaliers for the 2015 NBA Summer League. On September 17, he signed with the Foshan Dralions.

2016–17 season Benimon joined the Brooklyn Nets for the 2016 NBA Summer League. On September 10, he signed with Qingdao DoubleStar of the Chinese Basketball Association. On March 2, 2017, Delaware 87ers acquired rights to Benimon.

2017–18 season On October 29, 2017, Benimon signed with German club ratiopharm Ulm.

2018–19 season On August 15, 2018, Benimon signed with the New Zealand Breakers for the 2018–19 NBL season. He was released by the Breakers on September 3 due to personal issues.

On January 10, 2019, Benimon signed with Bnei Herzliya of the Israeli Premier League for the rest of the season.

NBA career statistics

Regular season