Former number one pick in the 2013 NBA Draft Anthony Bennett is now playing outside NBA. After Brooklyn Nets waived him, he is now heading to Turkey to play for Fenerbahce. Bennett is considered as one of the worst No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.
After the Nets waived him on Monday, Jan. 9, automatically Bennett became unrestricted free agent. A few days later, Fenerbahce announced to sign him. This gives Bennett opportunity to resume his basketball career in Europe, playing for Turkey’s professional team in the EuroLeague according to Euro Hoops. He will play under coach Zeljko Obradovic, which is considered as the best coach in the EuroLeague who has won eight EuroLeague titles with four different teams.
Bennett, the member of Canadian national team of men’s basketball was selected as the No. 1 overall pick in 2013 NBA Draft. He was the first Canadian who selected as the first overall in the NBA Draft. Cleveland Cavaliers which desperately need a strong big man in their front court selected him with expectation to see a good result.
However, his performance was not satisfactory to the Cavaliers. He only averaged 4.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in his 12.7 minutes in Cleveland. He was traded in his second year to Minnesota Timberwolves along with his fellow Canadian Andrew Wiggins, who was the number one draft pick in 2014. In his tenure with the Wolves, he played extra minutes but still not impressive as the number one draft pick until the Wolves waived in September 2015.
The 6’8” forward was signed with Toronto Raptors in one year deal, and the Raptors sent him in the D-League. In July 2016, Brooklyn Nets signed him and after playing in 23 games for the Nets with only 5.0 points average in 11.5 minutes, the Nets waived him on Monday, Jan. 9 as reported by ESPN.
His case is one of the rare case of the bust of the number one pick in the NBA draft. Watch the footage of him being selected as 1st overall pick by the Cavaliers from NBA official channel below: