Last week when the Atlanta Hawks sent their 2014 first round pick out of Michigan State, Adreian Payne, to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Wolves surrendered a protected first round pick in 2017 to the Hawks in the process.
That’s a lot to surrender for a guy who’s a 24 year old rookie that hasn’t played any type of serious NBA minutes.
It seems with that deal that a player with Payne’s similar skill set will be deemed expendable.
2013 number 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett has been brought up in trade talks.
Following from Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.
League people say they've brought Bennett up. Bud can be had. RT @aaronkarasov: @DarrenWolfson hearing any #Twolves trade chatter?
— Darren Wolfson (@DarrenWolfson) February 18, 2015
@CLupus63 @aaronkarasov Told the Wolves have brought up. You think teams actually want him?
— Darren Wolfson (@DarrenWolfson) February 18, 2015
Bennett being available is a scary sign for his career. He’s gone from a number 1 pick with his ceiling being remarkably high to a guy who may now be considered an NBA journeyman, all in under 2 years.
In hindsight though, Bennett never should have been the top 2013 pick in the first place. Cavaliers’ error makes him look worse but in the long run, it helped out Cleveland. Not so much Bennett.
Cavaliers passed up on a hurt Nerlens Noel, Cody Zeller, Alex Len and Steven Adams in that draft. It would be interesting to see how much that draft might have affected where the Cavaliers are now.
Bennett is the type of player who is young and developing into his game. A type of player the rebuilding Timberwolves should prioritize as a project to develop alongside Andrew Wiggins, Gorgui Dieng and Zach LaVine. If they’re now trying to unload him, that should should signal to teams about his value not being the greatest to a team who has nothing to lose.
