NBA News: Anthony Bennett clears waivers, could land with Toronto Raptors

Anthony Bennett, the top overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft has recently been waived by the Minnesota Timberwolves and has cleared waivers which will allow him to become an unrestricted free agent and free to join any other NBA team.

According to a report by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, the Toronto Raptors are one of the frontrunners to acquire Bennett, who was set to earn $3.65 million (AU$ 5.2 million) and gave up over $2 million (AU$ 2.85 million) after getting waived.

Days before being waived, there were reports that Bennett’s representatives were asking the Timberwolves for a buyout so he can join another NBA team for the upcoming season. A few teams, including Bennett’s former team, the Cavaliers, Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers and Portland Trail Blazers, could have had potentially acquired Bennett via the waiver wire but all chose to pass on him.

The 22-year-old Bennett is from Toronto, Ontario in Canada and has recently represented the Canadian basketball national team at the 2015 FIBA Americas Championships in Mexico. Bennett averaged 7.6 points and 5.4 rebounds in 10 games for Canada, which ended up with the bronze medal international competition.

Bennett was picked as the number one overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers two years ago and he was part of the trade that brought Kevin Love to Cleveland and Andrew Wiggins to Minnesota. In two years in the league, Bennett has largely been a disappointment averaging just 4.7 points and 3.4 rebounds and playing just 14.3 minutes per game.

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