Anthony Bennett, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, has been "made available" by the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to ESPN's Marc Stein.
Timberwolves reportedly shopping Anthony Bennett
Could the former No. 1 pick be on the move again?
Bennett, of course, was part of last summer's trade with the Cavaliers that sent Kevin Love to join LeBron James in Cleveland. After an extremely disappointing rookie campaign in Cleveland, Bennett failed to take advantage of his change of scenery. He appeared in just 57 games last season and averaged 5.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in 15.7 minutes despite playing for a 16-66 team.
Bennett has just one guaranteed year left on his rookie contract. After that the Timberwolves will have a $7.3 million player option for 2016-17, which it can be assumed they will not pick up.
Why shopping Bennett makes sense
Simply put: because he’s not very good at basketball. This seems to be pretty clear by now. Bennett has played two seasons for two different teams and both have made it clear that they have no faith in his abilities. Take away the No. 1 pick moniker and what you have is a 6’8, 245-pound forward who can’t shoot threes (26 percent in his career), is too slow to guard small forwards and too weak to guard power forwards. So yeah, why wouldn’t you be trying to trade this guy? Maybe there’s some desperate GM somewhere who thinks his team is the one that can unlock all that potential that made Bennett the No. 1 overall pick just two years ago.
Why shopping Bennett doesn’t make sense
This side is a bit harder to argue. If you had to come up with a reason it would be that Bennett has to have some talent somewhere in him. How else do you explain him going No. 1 overall to Cleveland? Even if that was considered a reach by many, most experts still had Bennett pegged as a lottery selection prior to the draft. There had to be a reason for that. What it is, we have yet to see. But maybe Bennett, who is still just 22, will be a late-bloomer. Maybe the explosion is coming. Maybe Chris Grant, the former Cavaliers GM who drafted Bennett but has since been fired, will one day have his decision validated.
Likelihood (7/10)
The biggest obstacle here will be finding someone who wants Bennett. But if trading him is something the Timberwolves want to do then they should be able to get it done. There’s got to be someone out there willing to take a shot on a former No. 1 pick -- as long as the price is right. The more interesting question here: is Bennett the worst No. 1 pick of all time?
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