Atlanta Hawks’ second round pick Keith Benson signs with an Italian League team: NBA Update
Atlanta Hawks’ second round pick from this year’s NBA Draft, Keith Benson has signed a contract with the top Italian League Dinamo Basket Sassari and will be heading towards Europe to play basketball during the lockout.
The news was confirmed by the mother of Benson, Janice Hale who issued a statement in this regard.
“Keith feels that having an opportunity to play professionally during the lockout will enable him to maintain his conditioning and prepare him for the Atlanta Hawks training camp”. Hale said.
The contract includes the out-clause option which will enable the 23 years old Benson to come back in Atlanta Hawks when the lockout ends. Janice stated that his son Keith Benson received a number of offers from different European
and Asian Leagues. However the NBA rookie decided to join Sassari which offered him the escape option in the middle of their season in case NBA gets back to business.
“He has received numerous offers to play in Europe and Asia. In fact, there were offers that were close to double the offer he accepted. Many of the teams that offered him wanted to build their teams around him as the starting
centre and would not provide the opt out clause. He agreed to play for Sassari because they were willing to include the opt out clause in his contract.” Janice said.
Benson is the first player ever in the history of National Basketball Association to be drafted from the Oakland University. However the newcomer was locked out before making a debut in NBA and as a result he is going to action
in the international league before playing in the Hawks’ uniform.
Keith started for the Oakland Golden Grizzlies during the 2007-2008 season in the 20 games. However on posting an average performance, Oakland’s superstar was benched before the Conference tournament on the coach’ decision.
In 2010, Keith Benson created a major impact with his impressive performance which earned him the honour of The Summit League Player of the Year. The senior season turned out to be another success for Benson in which he broke the
record of 317 blocks which was cemented by Keith Closs of Central Connecticut State University. As a result, Benson was named The Summit League Player of the Year in 2011 for the second successive time.
In 2010, Keith Benson declared himself eligible for the NBA Draft however; he failed to work out with the teams due to injury and withdrew himself. Benson came back next year in 2011 and he was selected with the 18th
second round pick by the Atlanta Hawks.
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