Former Friar Ben Bentil has had an illustrious and far-reaching professional basketball career since declaring early for the 2016 NBA Draft back in and being drafted by the Boston Celtics in the second round with the 51st pick.
Throughout the 2016-2017 NBA season, Bentil found his way on the roster of the Celtics, Pacers, and eventually Mavericks, where he saw his only action in the NBA and became the first Ghanian player to see minutes in The League.
Since we’re going to talk about his most recent contract with Hapoel Tel Aviv, let’s start at the beginning of Bentil’s professional career to take us up until the present day.
June 23, 2016 – Ben Bentil is selected by the Boston Celtics with the 51st pick in the 2nd round of the 2016 NBA Draft.
July 27, 2016 – Bentil signs with the Boston Celtics.
October 21, 2016 – Bentil is waived by the Boston Celtics.
October 24, 2016 – Bentil is signed and waived by the Indiana Pacers.
October 31, 2016 – Bentil is acquired by the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA D-League (affiliate of the Indiana Pacers).
| Year | GP | GS | MINS | PTS | REBS | ASTS | STLS | BLKS | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 16-17 | 20 | 4 | 21.7 | 12.1 | 4.6 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.3 | .363 | .310 | .800 |
In the middle of playing for the (now re-named) D-League Mad Ants, Bentil left the team in mid-November to join the Xinjiang Flying Tigers in China.
November 25, 2016 – Bentil signed with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the CBA (Chinese Basketball Association). Andray Blatche’s injury, the former big man for the New Jersey Nets, led to the urgency to sign Bentil to the CBA. In his first game against the Jilin Northeast Tigers (they certainly like their tigers), Bentil scored 28 points off the bench.
| Year | GP | GS | MINS | PTS | REBS | ASTS | STLS | BLKS | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 16-17 | 11 | N/A | 20.9 | 13.7 | 4.8 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 0.2 | .408 | .479 | .733 |
January 16, 2017 – Following his stint in China, Bentil returned back to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
February 26, 2017 – Bentil signed a 10-day contract with the Dallas Mavericks.
March 1, 2017 – Bentil makes his NBA Debut against the Atlanta Hawks, thus making him the first Ghanian born player to ever play in the NBA. Bentil appeared in two additional games for the Mavericks before his 10-day contract expired and he then returned to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. During his 10-day tenure with the Mavericks, he was able to witness Dirk Nowitzki record his 30,000th points, becoming just the 6th player in NBA history to do so at that time.
| Year | GP | GS | MINS | PTS | REBS | ASTS | STLS | BLKS | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 16-17 | 3 | 0 | 3.3 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
June 30, 2017 – Bentil is included on the San Antonio Spurts roster for the 2017 NBA Summer League.
| Year | GP | GS | MINS | PTS | REBS | ASTS | STLS | BLKS | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 2017 | 2 | N/A | 9.9 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .400 | .000 | .000 |
August 28, 2017 – Bentil signed a deal with France’s Champagne Châlons-Reims Basket in the French Pro-A League
| Year | GP | GS | MINS | PTS | REBS | ASTS | STLS | BLKS | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 17-18 | 20 | N/A | 25.0 | 11.7 | 4.8 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.4 | .384 | .260 | .687 |
February 24, 2018 – In February of the 2017-2018 campaign for Châlons-Reims, Bentil singed with Bilbao Basket in Spain’s top basketball league, Liga ACB. He stayed there for the remainder of the season, playing in the last 12 games.
| Year | GP | GS | MINS | PTS | REBS | ASTS | STLS | BLKS | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 17-18 | 12 | N/A | 12.3 | 3.7 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.1 | .326 | .188 | .650 |
September 25, 2018 – Bentil headed to Greece and signed with Peristeri in the Greek Basket League (Greece’s top basketball league). He would stay with Peristeri for his longest stint of his professional basketball career so far, simultaneously playing his best professional basketball yet over 35 games.
| Year | GP | GS | MINS | PTS | REBS | ASTS | STLS | BLKS | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 18-19 | 26 | N/A | 21.6 | 11.5 | 6.3 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.5 | .463 | .377 | .724 |
June 21, 2019 – Bentil resigned with Peristeri for an additional season.
July 17, 2019 – Bentil opted out of his contract with Peristeri (EuroLeague players are allowed to do so) and signed with Panathinaikos, following his former coach, Argyris Pedoulakis, from Peristeri to Panathinaikos.
| Year | GP | GS | MINS | PTS | REBS | ASTS | STLS | BLKS | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 19-20 | 6 | N/A | 11.3 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | .450 | .500 | .750 |
| 20-21 | 20 | N/A | 15.4 | 8.2 | 3.6 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.1 | .533 | .387 | .685 |
| Total | 26 | N/A | 14.5 | 7.3 | 3.8 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.2 | .520 | .415 | .690 |
In the 2020-2021 season, Ben Bentil won both the Greek Championship and the Greek Cup as a member of Panathinaikos.
July 7, 2021 – Bentil signed with Bahcesehir Koleji of the Turkey’s Basketbol Süper Ligi (Turkey’s top basketball league), also known as BSL.
| Year | GP | GS | MINS | PTS | REBS | ASTS | STLS | BLKS | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 21-22 | 8 | N/A | 23.1 | 12.0 | 4.3 | 2.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | .452 | .333 | .793 |
November 27, 2021 – Bentil signed with Olimpia Milano of Italy’s Lega Basket Serie A.
| Year | GP | GS | MINS | PTS | REBS | ASTS | STLS | BLKS | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 21-22 | 17 | N/A | 18.8 | 10.2 | 4.5 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.1 | .496 | .367 | .707 |
July 20, 2022 – Bentil signed with Serbia’s Crvena zvezda of the Adriatic League. They are part of the EuroLeague and include teams from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia.
| Year | GP | GS | MINS | PTS | REBS | ASTS | STLS | BLKS | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 22-23 | 20 | N/A | 16.7 | 9.4 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.2 | .511 | .392 | .938 |
July 2, 2023 – Bentil parted ways with On July 2, 2023, he parted ways with Crvena zvezda.
July 21, 2024 – Bentil signed with Japan’s Gunma Cranee Thunders of the Japanese B.League.
| Year | GP | GS | MINS | PTS | REBS | ASTS | STLS | BLKS | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 23-24 | 50 | N/A | 25.5 | 17.0 | 5.5 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.2 | .455 | .450 | .750 |
July 1, 2024 – Bentil signed with Hapoel Tel Aviv of the Israeli Super League.
So if you’re keeping track at home, Ben Bentil has played in professional leagues in America, France, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Japan, and now Israel.
Along with Bentil, Hapoel Tel Aviv also signed former Creighton Bluejay and Big East foe, Marcus Foster. Foster may very well be my favorite player to watch at Creighton. There is like a player on every team that I usually like or would like to see play for the team I root for and Marcus Foster sure fit that bill. Foster and Khyri Thomas were an unreal backcourt back in the day. Just pure heart for that tandem.
I mean, this picture against Providence is so fucking sick.
The Morning Hangover 
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