Who Is The Biggest Draft Bust?

Each year, lots of young talent enters the league through the NBA Draft. Most of the players selected with the highest picks turn out to be great, others not so much. Today I will be trying to find the biggest draft bust in NBA history.

Here are the candidates:
Anthony Bennett
Sam Bowie
Adam Morrison
Darko Milicic
Jonny Flynn

So, I chose Anthony Bennett as the biggest draft bust in NBA history.

Bennett was chosen with the #1 overall pick in the 2013 draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Bennett played for the University of Las Vegas (UNLV). He played just one season at UNLV, in which he averaged 16.1 points and 8.1 rebounds.

The Cavaliers were in a rebuilding stage as Lebron had left during the 2010 off-season. The Cavs had been trying to get enticing young players to get Lebron back in Cleveland. They got Kyrie Irving in the 2011 draft, and got other young pieces. This #1 pick would be huge for the Cavs in trying to get Lebron back home. All they had to do was not mess up (Cavs btw).

Other than Bennett, other young talents like Victor Oladipo from Indiana and Nerlens Noel from Kentucky. Other than that, you had some nobody’s, like CJ McCollum from Lehigh and some Greek guy named Giannis. Who needs them right?

But, there was no clear cut #1 pick. In 2019 you had Zion Williamson. In 2018 you had Deandre Ayton. But this draft had no clear #1 overall pick. Many assumed the Cavs would take Victor Oladipo or Nerlens Noel. So the Cavs surprised everybody and selected Bennett. Oh god.

The Cavs were sold that Bennett would help them rebuild back into a playoff contender in the East. Yeah, that didn’t happen. Bennett had a problem with his work ethic. He didn’t want to work to get better. Going into the Cavs training camp, Bennett was overweight and out of shape.

Bennett’s rookie season was more of the same as he was seldom used behind other guys like Tristan Thompson and Andrew Bynum. Worse for Bennett, he missed his first 16 shots as a Cavalier. He made his first ever shot in his 5th career game with the Cavs. He was booed by his hometown fans. He didn’t have any work ethic and fell behind. He was never able to catch up.

Because Bennett was not in great shape, he was unable to find a role in either forward position. He was in that in-between position, and he could figure himself out.

Bennett put up averages of 4.4 points and 3.0 rebounds while shooting 35.6% from the field and 24.5% from 3.

Bennett went to Minnesota the next season and improved marginally. He went to the Toronto Raptors during the 2015-16 season, and spent his last season in the NBA with the Brooklyn Nets.

After leaving the Nets, Bennett went overseas to play in Turkey. In September of 2017, Bennett signed with the Phoenix Suns. He was waived be them in October and joined the Northern Arizona Suns of the NBA G League. In December of 2017 he was traded to the Maine Red Claws, another G-League Team. In October of 2018 he was again traded to the Agua Caliente Clippers.

In July of 2019 he signed with the Houston Rockets, but was waived during training camp. Bennett has not seen NBA action since then.

The story of Bennett and his time in the league in unfortunate, but he kind of did it to himself. He fell behind and never came back. It is hard to tell if he ever was good enough to be in the NBA, but one thing is for certain. The Cavs messed up with this pick.

But, what do you think? Is Bennett the biggest draft bust in NBA History? If not, who is? Leave all of your comments down below.

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