Wellesley’s Katie Benzan is the G League’s youngest female GM

Again in 2011, when 13-year-old Katie Benzan took the varsity ground as an eighth-grader for Noble and Greenough, gamers from the Tabor Academy bench snickered.

The plucky, 80-pound sharpshooter was comparatively quiet within the first half. Even her mom, assistant coach Kim Benzan, requested coach Alex Gallagher if he was optimistic she was prepared for the limelight.

However Benzan was prepared.

Within the second half, she erupted for six 3-pointers, steering the Bulldogs to a convincing 16-point win and saying her arrival.

“She was an absolute star,” Gallagher advised the Globe. “There have been no fist pumps. There have been no awkward smiles. There was nothing. That is what she’s anticipated of herself since she was little or no.”

Benzan, a Wellesley native, is used to life because the youngest (or smallest) particular person within the room. At 5 toes, 6 inches, she starred at Nobles, Harvard, and the College of Maryland earlier than finally a spot with the WNBA’s Washington Mystics.

And in June, she made historical past when she grew to become the Salt Lake Metropolis Stars’ normal supervisor at age 27. Benzan is the youngest feminine GM in G League historical past, the league’s youngest energetic GM, and one among two girls at present main groups.

This function — which she’s going to fill alongside together with her duties because the Utah Jazz’s supervisor of professional scouting — is one other problem, one thing she’s accustomed to.

“It by no means actually fazed me,” Benzan stated. “On the finish of the day, no matter if I’m a person or a girl, I obtained to create my worth and my area of interest on this group. I’m simply hoping that I can pull up the subsequent lady.”

Benzan and her mom at all times wish to say she realized to play basketball earlier than she may stroll.

Battles together with her mom and older brother Pat toughened her up. Pat and Kim each performed at Holy Cross, and Kim coached at Needham Excessive earlier than following her daughter to Nobles.

Kim ceaselessly introduced Benzan to practices when she was as younger as 6. Benzan cherished constructing relationships with the gamers and studying the sport by way of their eyes.

She started enjoying AAU at age 10. She says basketball journeys together with her mom and aunt, Kathy Kelley, are nonetheless a few of her fondest recollections.

A journey to Rwanda with Taking pictures Contact fueled Benzan’s ardour for serving to others. She remembers one recreation in opposition to 18-year-old boys that resulted in “Katie! Katie! Katie!” chants.

Her aggressive spirit in Rwanda and again within the States helped her overcome issues about her dimension when doubters continued to insist she was too small to shine in school.

“I simply used that disbelief as gas and motivation to show them incorrect,” Benzan stated.

And she or he did. Benzan earned first-team All-Ivy League honors from 2018-20 at Harvard, taking pictures 94 % from the free throw line as a freshman, and averaging 13-plus factors per recreation every season.

She used her final two years of eligibility to play below Brenda Frese at Maryland. Benzan guided the Terrapins to 2 Candy 16s, setting a program file with a blistering profession 3-point share of 47.4.

When Benzan referred to as residence and Kim advised her she was probably the greatest 3-point shooters within the nation, Benzan had no concept. She wasn’t taking note of the stats.

“She has an uncanny capability to remain within the second,” Kim stated. “She’s probably the most aggressive particular person I’ve ever met, and I coached for 20 years.”

After leaving Maryland in 2022, Benzan wasn’t drafted into the WNBA. She was virtually able to transition to the subsequent chapter. In the future, Mystics coach and normal supervisor Mike Thibault referred to as and requested her if she wished to check out.

Benzan appeared in simply three video games within the league, however they produced a pinch-me second. Towards the Las Vegas Aces, she guarded Kelsey Plum and scored 12 factors because the Mystics outlasted Becky Hammon’s squad.

“It’s nonetheless mind-blowing to me,” Benzan stated.

She was not sure the place life would take her subsequent when a stunning name got here, asking if she wished to interview with Jazz normal supervisor Justin Zanik and CEO Danny Ainge for a basketball operations generalist function.

Zanik stated that after they met, Benzan impressed him with not solely her basketball acumen but in addition her drive to study all aspects of the group.

Shifting throughout the nation to a metropolis the place she knew nobody outdoors of the group was daunting, however Benzan determined it was too attractive to cross up.

“It took huge power, confidence, and braveness for a 22-year-old to do this,” Kim Benzan stated. “Then, she simply dove into the work. It’s one thing that she’s carried out her complete life.”

Even when life had different plans. In November 2023, whereas touring to Chicago for work, Benzan obtained a cellphone name with devastating information. Her beloved aunt Kathy had been identified with mind most cancers.

Benzan knew in her coronary heart she needed to be near residence. For months, the Jazz allowed her to work from Massachusetts. Benzan attended Boston Faculty, Windfall Faculty, and Maine Celtics video games as a Boston-based distant scout and spent most of her time watching movie with Kathy.

Kathy, a lifelong rebounder, confidante, and supporter — she introduced Benzan hen soup when she was sick at Harvard and flew to Indianapolis to observe the Terrapins seize a Large Ten title — died simply 5 months later in February.

“My aunt has at all times been part of my journey,” Benzan stated. “She was a giant a part of my life.”

That month, Benzan returned to Utah and needed to hit the bottom operating. She was transitioning to a brand new function because the Jazz’s coordinator of professional scouting and assistant normal supervisor of the Stars.

Benzan is commonly one among few girls within the room. She focuses on her physique language and confidence, and reminds herself she belongs as a result of she’s put within the work.

She spends most of her days at Stars follow, managing gamers, coaches, and assist workers, then dives deep into movie within the afternoons.

As a former hidden gem herself, she has a pulse for locating under-the-radar gamers.

“Along with her management, I’m assured our program will make nice strides each from a developmental and a aggressive standpoint,” Zanik stated.

When folks ask Gallagher, Benzan’s highschool coach, if he may have envisioned this, he responds with out hesitation.

“Hell, sure,” Gallagher stated. “It doesn’t shock any of us.”