The Pick Nobody Saw Coming (Including Cleveland)
On June 27, 2013, NBA Commissioner David Stern walked to the podium and announced that the Cleveland Cavaliers had selected Anthony Bennett with the first overall pick. The crowd at the Barclays Center went silent. Not because they were stunned by a bold move. Because nobody, including most mock drafts, Bennett's own agent, and reportedly the Cavaliers' front office until a few hours before the draft, had him going #1.
Bennett was a fine college player at UNLV. He averaged 16.1 points and 8.1 rebounds as a freshman in the Mountain West Conference. That's a solid year. First-overall-pick good? Not historically. But the 2013 draft was considered weak at the top, and Cleveland apparently decided to swing for the fences on a tweener power forward coming off shoulder surgery who needed sleep apnea treatment. What could go wrong?
Everything. Everything could go wrong.
The Historically Bad Rookie Season
Anthony Bennett's rookie year with the Cavaliers wasn't just bad. It was the kind of bad that forces sports statisticians to double-check their spreadsheets because surely nobody drafted first overall has ever been this invisible.
He missed his first 16 field goal attempts to start his NBA career. Let that sink in. The number one overall pick in the NBA Draft looked at a basketball hoop 16 times before a ball finally fell through it. His first bucket didn't come until his fifth game. By that point, most first overall picks have already put together a highlight reel. Bennett had a blooper reel.
For the full rookie season: 4.2 points per game on 35.6% shooting. He never started a single game. He played 12.8 minutes per night, which is the kind of playing time usually reserved for the 12th man, not the franchise cornerstone. He scored in double figures just 6 times across 52 games. The Cavaliers' draft board must have been written in invisible ink.
The stats are so bad they read like a typo. A .356 field goal percentage and .245 from three. To be clear, that means Anthony Bennett, the first overall pick in the NBA Draft, converted roughly one out of every four three-pointers he attempted. Your local rec league has guys shooting better than that. They just don't have a $5 million salary while doing it.
Who He Was Drafted Over
Here's where the story goes from bad to historically devastating. Let's take a tour of what Cleveland passed on:
Victor Oladipo (#2): Two-time All-Star, one of the best two-way guards of his generation. Averaged 15.4 PPG for his career.
CJ McCollum (#10): Three-time 20+ PPG scorer, Portland Trail Blazers legend, one of the smoothest scoring guards in the league.
Steven Adams (#12): Nearly a decade of elite rim protection and toughness. An absolute unit.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (#15): Two-time MVP. Defensive Player of the Year. NBA Champion with one of the greatest Finals performances in history. The Greek Freak. The best player in the world for a stretch. Picked 14 spots after Bennett.
Rudy Gobert (#27): Four-time Defensive Player of the Year. The most dominant defensive center of his era.
Bennett's career win shares: 0.0. Giannis's: over 100. That's not a rounding error. Bennett literally produced zero wins for his teams across 151 games while the guy picked 14 spots later became a generational talent. If there's a more painful stat in NBA draft history, nobody's found it yet.
The Four-Team NBA Farewell Tour
- Cleveland Cavaliers (2013-14): The team that started it all. 52 games, 0 starts, 4.2 PPG. Got to witness LeBron's return the following year, but only because he'd already been traded. Cleveland sent him to Minnesota in a three-team deal. Just one year for the #1 pick.
- Minnesota Timberwolves (2014-15): His best statistical season, somehow. 5.2 PPG on 42.1% shooting across 57 games, with 3 whole starts. Career high of 20 points against the Spurs. Waived via buyout in September 2015. Minnesota was so bad that even they didn't want him.
- Toronto Raptors (2015-16): His hometown team gave him a pity contract. Averaged 1.5 PPG in 19 games and spent most of his time in the D-League with the Raptors 905. That's right: the #1 overall pick was playing in the developmental league two years after being drafted. A first in NBA history.
- Brooklyn Nets (2016-17): His final NBA stop. 23 games, 5.0 PPG. Waived in January 2017. He was 23 years old and already out of NBA options. Most #1 picks are just hitting their stride at 23. Bennett was hitting the exit.
The World Tour: From the NBA to... Bahrain
After the NBA politely told Bennett his services were no longer required, he went on a global basketball odyssey that reads like someone threw darts at a map.
He went to Turkey's Fenerbahce in 2017, where he averaged 1.2 points in the EuroLeague but technically won a EuroLeague championship. Sound familiar? Just like Darko, Bennett found himself collecting rings on teams that would have won with or without him. It's a specialized skill, honestly.
Then came the G League. Then Houston for a preseason cup of coffee. Then Puerto Rico. Then Israel, where he averaged 6.3 points in 8 games before being released. Then Taiwan. Then Korea, which he left for personal reasons. Then back to Taiwan. Then Bahrain.
At 32 years old, Bennett is currently playing in the Bahraini Premier League. He holds the distinction of being the highest-drafted NBA player to ever play professionally in Taiwan, which is the kind of record that makes you update your resume.
THE BENNETT DAMAGE REPORT
Total NBA earnings: approximately $16.4 million. Total career win shares: 0.0. Career games started: 4 out of 151. Countries played in after the NBA: Turkey, Puerto Rico, Israel, Taiwan, South Korea, and Bahrain. He is the only #1 overall pick in modern NBA history to never make an All-Star game, never average double-digit scoring, never become a full-time starter, and have a career win share total that rounds to zero. At least Darko Milicic had an apple orchard to fall back on. Bennett has frequent flyer miles.
In Bennett's Defense (Sort Of)
There's a version of this story that's genuinely sympathetic. Bennett had shoulder surgery right before the draft. He needed treatment for sleep apnea and asthma. He was 20 years old, never expected to go #1, and was thrust into a situation with impossible expectations. His college coach and teammates have said he's a genuinely good person who worked hard.
The problem isn't really Anthony Bennett. He was a decent college player who probably should have gone somewhere in the 8-15 range, gotten lower expectations, and had a quiet 6-7 year NBA career as a rotation big. The problem was Cleveland deciding that a guy projected to go mid-lottery was somehow the best player available with the first pick in the draft.
But sympathy only goes so far when you're comparing him to Giannis Antetokounmpo. Bennett's career stat line is 4.4 points and 3.1 rebounds. Giannis has averaged 23+ points, 9+ rebounds, and 5+ assists while winning MVPs and championships. The gap between pick #1 and pick #15 in the 2013 draft might be the biggest whiff in the history of professional sports.
The Legacy
If Darko Milicic is the patron saint of draft busts, Anthony Bennett is the patron saint of "nobody even saw it coming." Darko was at least hyped. He was supposed to be a sure thing. Bennett was a surprise pick who then proceeded to be surprisingly bad, which somehow makes it worse.
He's proof that in a weak draft, the worst thing you can do is reach for ceiling over floor. He's a cautionary tale about sleep apnea screenings, shoulder surgery timelines, and the dangers of overthinking on draft night. And he's currently living proof that if you're 6'8" and can dribble a basketball, somewhere in the world, someone will pay you to do it.
Just probably not in the NBA.