No one much liked Kent Benson. Although he was the center of Indiana’s famous undefeated 1976 national champions, even IU fans have a reason to dislike him: he was a key factor for Larry Bird packing up and leaving Indiana after just a few weeks: he couldn’t stand Benson, who did his best to keep the freshman miserable.
That continued when he got to the NBA. In his first NBA game - just two minutes in - Benson learned a key lesson about rookies and the NBA hierarchy.
Benson and his Milwaukee Bucks were playing the Los Angeles Lakers and for Benson, that meant he started his NBA career competing against one of the NBA’s all-time great centers, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.