TOWSON, Md. – Former Towson University men's basketball standout Jerrelle Benimon will compete in the 2017 MGM Resorts NBA Summer League as a member of the Chicago Bulls.
 
The Bulls begin play in Las Vegas against the Dallas Mavericks at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, July 8 (NBA-TV). The Bulls are the reigning Las Vegas Summer League champions. Each Bulls summer league game will be nationally televised by either NBA-TV or ESPNU.
 
Upon the conclusion of the preliminary schedule, the Bulls will then be seeded in a tournament-style circuit that will determine the 2017 MGM Resorts NBA Summer League champion in the Championship Game on July 17. Every team is guaranteed to play at least five games. Last year, Chicago went undefeated through seven games to claim the 2016 NBA Summer League tournament title.
 
This is the third consecutive year that Benimon is participating in the NBA Summer League. He played in 2016 for the Brooklyn Nets and in 2015 for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
 
The 6 foot, 8 inch 245-pound Benimon most recently played for Qingdao of China in the CBA (2016-17), averaging 19 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks per game. The season prior, he played with Guangzhou Long-Lions of China in the CBA (2015-16), averaging 25 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block per game.
 
He has appeared in two NBA games with the Utah Jazz and spent a season with the Idaho Stampede (2014-15). One of the games Benimon played in for the Jazz was an 87-82 win over the New York Knicks. He had three rebounds in that game. While playing for Idaho, he was a first-team All-Rookie and first-team All D-League selection, in addition to an NBA D-League Showcase Honorable Mention Team honoree.
 
Benimon, who earned his degree in communications in 2014, was named Most Valuable Player of the Reese's College All-Star Game at the 2014 Final Four after having one of the best individual seasons in Towson history. He helped Towson to a Division I school-record 25 victories. The two-time Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Player of the Year led the Tigers in scoring (18.7 ppg), rebounding (11.2 rpg) and assists (3.6 apg).

An NABC All-District 10 first-team honoree, Benimon guided Towson to a pair of victories in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. An AP All-American, Benimon ranked second in the NCAA in rebounding and third in double-doubles (21), while finishing his career with 1,203 points, ranking him 16th all-time at Towson.
 
The 2017 MGM Resorts NBA Summer League features 24 teams competing in a 67-game schedule from July 7-17 at the COX Pavilion and Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. ESPN will present all 67 games from Las Vegas across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and the ESPN App, including 35 on its linear television channels. NBA TV will air 28 games, starting with the league's opener on July 7. In total, 63 games from Las Vegas will air across ESPN and NBA TV's linear channels – a Summer League record.