Former Rebel Anthony Bennett, Timberwolves agree on contract buyout
Forward Anthony Bennett, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft, and the Minnesota Timberwolves reached an agreement on a contract buyout, Yahoo Sports reported Tuesday.
Terms of the buyout were not available.
The buyout will put Bennett on waivers, allowing any team with enough cap room or a trade exception big enough to assume his $5,803,560 salary to claim him.
If Bennett clears waivers, he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
It will be interesting to see whether any teams show an interest in Bennett.
He has been a disappointment so far. He averaged 4.2 points and 3.0 rebounds as a rookie and improved those numbers only slightly to 5.2 points and 3.8 rebounds last season. Those are not the numbers expected for the first overall draft choice.
But he's just 22 and is an athletic 6-foot-8 player.
Yahoo Sports reported that the Philadelphia 76ers and the Portland Trail Blazers are at least looking into the possibility of acquiring Bennett.
A team that obtains Bennett on waivers would inherit his existing contract of a little over $5 million guaranteed for this season and a $7,318,289 team option for 2016-17, which must be accepted or rejected by Nov. 2.
