to the Detroit Pistons for Bob Lanier, who would help the Bucks to consecutive Eastern Conference finals appearances in 1983 and 1984. In 1986, the Pistons traded him along with Kelly Tripucka to the Utah Jazz for Adrian Dantley, who would help lead the Pistons to the Eastern Conference finals in 1987 and the NBA Finals in 1988. Benson played in Italy following his two-game tenure with Cleveland in 1988. He played one year in Italy before retiring. “I had prepared myself [to leave the sport,]" he said. “I had an opportunity to stay and play in Italy for five more years. I actually walked away with two years left to go on my contract and just felt it was time to move on. Basketball was good to me and I was good to it, but I was ready to move on.” NBA career statistics Regular season |- | align="left" | 1977–78 | align="left" | Milwaukee | 69 || || 18.7 || .465 || .000 || .652 || 4.3 || 1.4 || 1.0 || 0.8 || 7.7 |- | align="left" | 1978–79 | align="left" | Milwaukee | 82 || || 26.0 || .518 || .000 || .735 || 7.1 || 2.5 || 1.1 || 1.0 || 12.3 |- | align="left" | 1979–80 | align="left" | Milwaukee | 56 || || 24.8 || .494 || .000 || .680 || 5.9 || 2.3 || 1.0 || 1.3 || 8.8 |- | align="left" | 1979–80 | align="left" | Detroit | 17 || || 29.5 || .460 || .250 || .750 || 7.1 || 3.0 || 1.1 || 1.1 || 12.1 |- | align="left" | 1980–81 | align="left" | Detroit | 59 || || 33.2 || .473 || .000 || .772 || 6.8 || 2.9 || 1.2 || 1.1 || 15.7 |- | align="left" | 1981–82 | align="left" | Detroit | 75 || 72 || 32.9 || .505 || .273 || .804 || 8.7 || 2.1 || 0.9 || 1.3 || 12.5 |- | align="left" | 1982–83 | align="left" | Detroit | 21 || 15 || 28.5 || .467 || .000 || .760 || 7.4 || 2.3 || 0.7 || 0.8 || 9.9 |- | align="left" | 1983–84 | align="left" | Detroit | 82 || 58 || 21.1 || .550 || .000 || .822 || 5.0 || 1.6 || 0.9 || 0.6 || 7.1 |- | align="left" | 1984–85 | align="left" | Detroit |