NBA News: Minnesota Timberwolves, Anthony Bennett Working On Buyout – International Business Times

Anthony Bennett could be without an NBA team before the start of the new season with the Minnesota Timberwolves as the former number one pick reportedly working on a buyout of their current contract.

According to Yahoo Sports, the Timberwolves have tried to trade Bennett in the 2015 offseason but has found no takers and now are working on a contract buyout.

Bennett, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, is one of the most disappointing top draft picks in recent memory. In two years in the league, he has career averages of 4.7 points and 3.4 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per game.

According to the same report, Bennett’s representatives are pushing for the 22-year-old forward to be bought out in Minnesota, where he is not part of the long-term plans and where he won’t get much playing time because of the presence of other big men including Nikola Pekovic, Karl-Anthony Towns, Gorgui Dieng, Adreian Payne, Nemanja Bjelica and Kevin Garnett.

Bennett was part of the trade that brought Andrew Wiggins to Minnesota and Kevin Love to Cleveland last season.

If Bennett is bought out, any NBA team with salary cap space can claim him off waivers and assume paying his $5.8 million salary. If no team claims him on the waiver wire, Bennett will hit free agency and can sign with any other NBA team.

Bennett, who is from Toronto, Ontario in Canada, recently played for his national team at the 2015 FIBA Americas Championships where Canada finished in third place. In 10 games, Bennett averaged 7.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.