Anthony Bennett’s NBA free fall continues.
In order to make room for Jason Thompson, who was waived by the Golden State Warriors when they signed Anderson Varejao, the Toronto Raptors waived Anthony Bennett, who has now cycled through three NBA organizations in less than three seasons. Shams Charania of The Vertical was the first with the news:
The Toronto Raptors are waiving forward Anthony Bennett to sign veteran Jason Thompson for the season, league sources tell The Vertical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 29, 2016
Bennet wasn’t a part of the Raptors’ rotation, and they need a power forward who can contribute ahead of the postseason. They have the East’s second-best record, are working off an impressive victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers and, at this rate, are locks to make it out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2001 and just the second time in franchise history.
As for Bennett, his career is now up in the air. The No. 1 pick in 2013 is not guaranteed to remain in the NBA at this point. He has yet to prove he can space the floor as a small-ball 4, and he doesn’t have the quickness necessary to hang with small forwards.
Tweeners are pretty much commodities in today’s league, but you have to carve out a niche, something Bennett never did. We can’t rule out a delayed success story; the NBA is littered with those. But the pressure of being drafted first overall will hang over Bennett forever, and there is no remaining feasible scenario in which he lives up to that initial status.
