NBA News: Anthony Bennett, Minnesota Timberwolves officially part ways

Anthony Bennett, the former number one pick in the draft, has officially parted ways with the Minnesota Timberwolves after agreeing to a buyout with the team.

Shams Charania of RealGM.com has reported the buyout, and Bennett is now expected to become a free agent after clearing waivers. The report adds that the Portland Trail Blazers, with the presence of Jay Triano and David Vanterpool in the team’s coaching staff, are expected to chase Bennett in free agency. Triano is the head coach and Vanterpool is an assistant coach of the Canadian basketball national team, which Bennett has represented in recent international competitions.

In days leading up to the contract buyout, the Timberwolves were reportedly aggressive in trying to trade Bennett but found no takers for the player, who was picked in the 2013 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Bennett was acquired by the Timberwolves from the Cavaliers in a trade last season where Andre Wiggins was sent to Minnesota and Kevin Love was moved to Cleveland.

With Bennett’s contract officially bought out, any NBA team with salary cap space can now claim him off waivers and assume paying his $5.8 million salary for the 2015-2016 season. If no team claims him off the waiver wire, Bennett can sign with any NBA team.

The Bennett buyout was widely expected as his agents pushed for his release from Minnesota, which already has a number of big men in its roster, including Nikola Pekovic, Karl-Anthony Towns, Gorgui Dieng, Adrian Payne, Nemanja Bjelica and Kevin Garnett.

In two years in the NBA, Bennett has career averages of 4.7 points and 3.4 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per game. In 10 games in the recent FIBA Americas Championships for Team Canada, Bennett averaged 7.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.

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