Former No. 1 NBA Draft pick Anthony Bennett has hit another bump in his professional career. Bennett, drafted first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2013, was already out of the NBA. And after this week, he's off his pro team in Turkey as his Turkish Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL) squad cut him during its playoff turn.
Bennett spent one season in Cleveland before being shipped to Minnesota with Andrew Wiggins in the trade for Kevin Love. Bennett spent one season with the Minnesota Timberwolves before making a one-season stop in Toronto and a half-season stop in Brooklyn before heading overseas. BSL made its move to clear room for Pero Antic, who played with the Atlanta Hawks from 2013-15.
Here's more on the move from Eurohoops.net:
The club decided to assign Pero Antic back to the BSL roster, which has limited spots for non Turkish players. That made Bennett the odd man out after seven BSL games, during which he averaged 9 ppg and 6.4 rpg, playing 23 minutes per game.
So far Bennett has also played in nine EuroLeague games, averaging 1.3 ppg and having very small contribution to the Turkish team, which will be the host of the EuroLeague Final Four.
Antic's two seasons in the NBA yielded little success. He averaged 6.3 points with the Hawks and started 29 games over two seasons. But at 6-feet-11, he's a mobile big man who adds a dimension -- 3-point shooting -- Bennett does not possess.
If not for Antic, who basically made Bennett the odd man out on his own team and resulted in the cut, Bennett might still have a job in a pivotal stretch of the season. But now the former No. 1 overall draft pick finds himself without a team after being cut for the second time this season.
